A launch at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

GeoEye announced that the GeoEye-1 satellite has safely arrived at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California , in preparation for its scheduled launch on the 22 August 2008.

AAMHatch is the sole Authorized GeoEye Reseller of IKONOS products in Australia , New Zealand and Papua New Guinea , and as such is keenly awaiting the new GeoEye-1 products which will flow from this new satellite.

GeoEye-1 will have the highest resolution of any commercial satellite imaging system: 41cm for panchromatic (black and white) imagery and multispectral (color) imagery at 165cm resolution. Due to US Government restrictions the commercially supplied panchromatic imagery or merged colour products will have a spatial resolution of 50cm. The satellite is designed to offer three metre horizontal accuracy without additional processing, which means that end users can map natural and man-made features to within three metres of their actual locations on the surface of the Earth without ground control points.

GeoEye will be utilizing multiple sources for primary data reception since the combined daily collection capacity for both the IKONOS and GeoEye-1 satellites will be nearly one million square kilometres.

More information about the launch of the GeoEye-1 satellite and its products visit http://www.aamhatch.com/satellite

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Heerbrugg, 23 June 2008, With the Leica DX10 Field Controller , Leica Geosystems introduces its first robust site PDA. Designed specifically for the tough environment on construction sites, the Leica DX10 convinces with its compact size, flexible possibilities in use and very good handling.

With its flexibility and advanced functionality the Leica DX10 Field Controller allows to take full advantage of your software's features.

Made for use on site: The Leica DX10 delivers maximum performance and reliability and meets the military's rigorous MIL-STD-810F standards for vibration, shock and temperature extremes. It comes with an IP67 rating against water, humidity, sand and dust. It has an ergonomically shaped case and the hand-strap at the back make it fit perfectly in your hand. The pocked sized design and its weight of just 482 grams (17 oz) make it easy to carry in the field.

Featuring standard Bluetooth optional wireless, the waterproof Leica DX10 offers excellent visibility in all lighting conditions. A high contrast color display with sealed touch-screen delivers brilliant contrast and selectable portrait or landscape view.

The versatile workhorse: The Leica DX10 Field Controller features a high-performance 520 MHz Intel Xscale processor, 128 MB low-power RAM and a solid-state 256 MB Flash disk. The intelligent, rechargeable, lightweight Li-Ion battery pack provides operation for more than 20 hours on one charge.

With a CF and SD card slot, 9-pin RS232 and 2x USB ports, the Leica DX10 guarantees for multipurpose use with peripheral devices and specialized applications. The standard top cap protects the CF and SD card slots from rain, dust and wind. Optional wireless communication such as Wi-Fi or wire-less cellular modems extend the versatility of the Leica DX10 in the same way as the standard Microsoft® Mobile versions Internet Explorer, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel.

Construction, machine control, and survey computer :The Leica DX10 comes in two color variants: Y (yellow) for construction applications, and R (red) for mid to high end survey, GIS and machine control applications. Both variants always are packaged with accessories for out-of-the-box usage.

For further information please contact: alessandra.doell@leica-geosystems.com , www.leica-geosystems.com

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When two catastrophic natural disasters struck within days of each other in

May 2008, disaster relief, humanitarian aid, and health officials, as well as members of the news media tapped into a unique set of NASA data products describing the location of the exposed populations. In the hours and days following the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China 's Sichuan Province, workers had the data they needed to assess the numbers of people possibly affected in these deadly events. What arose was a timely example of how NASA data comes to the aid of officials when such disasters occur.

"The gridded population product we produce helps officials understand the density of the population in and around a disaster area," said Robert Chen, manager of NASA's Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) and director of the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), part of the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York . "The data set shows where people actually live in relationship to hazardous events."

Members of the news media use the data and associated maps to report on possible casualties and property destruction. "When a major disaster hits, people want to know how many people were exposed to the disaster, in addition to how many were killed," said Chen. "For example, CNN used our map of population density in Burma to help explain how the unusual path of cyclone Nargis affected the low-lying, densely populated delta."

Using the SEDAC data, media were able to report that 25 percent of Burma 's 57 million people resided in coastal areas overpowered by the cyclone. They also projected that a million people would likely face homelessness, a number calculated by the United Nations (UN) also by using data made available by SEDAC.

SEDAC, a part of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System, collects, stores, processes and distributes population, land use, and socioeconomic data. A significant mission of NASA's Earth-observing satellite program is to enable scientists and other users to conduct analyses and make decisions based on the resulting data. SEDAC advances this mission by developing and operating practical applications that merge social science and Earth science data to improve knowledge of how humans interact with Earth's environment.


In the future, Chen says that the Center will try to gain more insight into a variety of issues: what types of structures people live in, how accessible they are through roads, how age, gender, and health affect vulnerability, and how other factors such as poverty, conflict, infectious disease, and water scarcity interact with natural hazards. "We need to improve our understanding of the human side of the equation using the data capabilities we have and will have in the future," said Chen. "This is very critical to the welfare of populations everywhere."

For more information visit: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/disaster_impact.html

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Industry Professionals Can Now Deliver Accurate, More Detailed Research 

Redlands, California— ESRI's 2008/2013 demographic data updates identify new trends such as the potential retirement of the baby boomers, reduced consumer spending, changes in income, and rising unemployment rates. Updated data variables, such as population, housing, age, income, and home value, ensure that analysts can conduct their research with the most accurate information, particularly for fast-developing areas.

Additions and changes in the 2008/2013 demographic data include new tables for the 2008 Population 25+ by Educational Attainment and the 2008 Population 15+ by Marital Status variables, extension of the 2008 Household Net Worth table to $1 million, and expansion of the 2008 Household Net Worth by Age of Householder table to $500,000.

New methodology innovations include quarterly updates to the population and households data variables. For data users who prefer to define their own trade areas, ESRI has developed a current database of the block weights used to retrieve information for user-defined polygons.

In addition to the 2008/2013 demographic data, ESRI's business, consumer expenditure, Community Tapestry segmentation, and Retail MarketPlace databases have also been updated.

" In these challenging economic times, this information enables our customers to accurately assess the changes in their market areas, enabling them to make better decisions that can improve their efficiencies, provide needed services, and grow revenues," says Catherine Spisszak, data product manager, ESRI. "Professionals across all industry sectors can use the data to more precisely analyze their market areas and produce detailed research."

The data is currently available in more than 75 reports and maps from Business Analyst Online , ESRI's on-demand analysis tool, and as ad hoc databases; it will be available soon in ArcGIS Business Analyst desktop software, the optional ArcGIS Business Analyst Segmentation Module, and in ArcGIS Business Analyst Server. Information from t hese reports can be used by organizations to analyze trends, identify growth, and make business decisions about expansions and new market opportunities.

For more information about ESRI's 2008/2013 databases, visit www.esri.com/data or call 1-800-292-2224.

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Fredericton , NB , Canada – June 23, 2008 – CARIS is pleased to announce the release of version 4.3 of its web mapping software, Spatial Fusion Enterprise, featuring real-time target tracking.

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Redlands , California — ESRI's ArcGIS 9.3, which began shipping today, offers a complete suite of software that improves organizational workflows. With ArcGIS, users also get the benefits of an established and active user community, instructor-led and online training, and new online resource centers. The resource centers offer a unified location from which to access online help, documentation, support pages, user forums, blogs, maps, and more.

Manage Spatial Information More Efficiently : ArcGIS 9.3 offers more tools to access data within an organization including support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and PostgreSQL. ArcGIS 9.3 also makes it easier to connect to and manage data from other systems via direct backward compatibility, new version management features, enhancements to geodatabase replication, and better geocoding. A new image service within ArcGIS Server also advances an organization's data management capabilities.

Make Better Maps : ArcGIS 9.3 includes many enhancements that make it easier to create and share production-quality maps. For example, a new Disperse Markers tool allows you to spread out representation markers when they coincide. Feature attributes can be included when exporting a map to Adobe PDFs and accessed interactively by Adobe Reader users. In addition, Maplex for ArcGIS now includes better contour labeling and more control over where labels are placed inside and around polygons.

Send and Receive Information to and from the Field : The new ArcGIS Mobile application allows people to quickly deploy mobile geographic information systems (GIS) and is configurable out of the box. The ArcGIS Mobile Software Developer Kit (SDK) now includes enhanced map control rendering to support multiple data sources and graphic layers, improved data storage capabilities with support for large compressed basemaps, and expanded projections.

Share Common Operating Information : ArcGIS 9.3 makes dissemination of geographic information much easier. For example, ArcGIS Server 9.3 has new tools to facilitate map cache management. ArcGIS Server users can now selectively build map cache for the areas that are the most popular and enable on-demand caching to let the map cache grow as end users access the map service. ArcGIS Server 9.3 also includes a series of JavaScript APIs for mashup-style development. The ArcGIS JavaScript APIs take advantage of the new REST interface.

Perform Better Planning and Analysis : In ArcGIS 9.3, many modeling tools have been enhanced and some entirely new tools have been added to help users get more answers from their data. A new scatterplot matrix graph lets users explore relationships between sets of related variables, and new advanced Ordinary Least Squares and Geographically Weighted Regression tools help users understand how processes vary over space. In addition, a new vehicle routing problem (VRP) solver in ArcGIS Network Analyst generates routes for fleets of vehicles.

To learn more about ArcGIS 9.3, visit www.esri.com/whatsnew .

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Richmond Hill , Ontario – July 9, 2008: PCI Geomatics®, a world leading developer of software and solutions for geospatial imaging applications, is pleased to announce plans to launch a new international office in Beijing , China . The new company, PCI Geomatics Beijing, will offer PCI Geomatics technology, services and solutions (under special license), for both the private and government sectors and will be led by Mr. Yubin Xin as Country Manager.

PCI Geomatics has sustained an extensive relationship with the Chinese market, established through a team of geospatial resellers throughout the country. PCI Geomatics Beijing will concentrate on providing imaging solutions to the geospatial market in China while continuing to work with our resellers.

“PCI Geomatics Beijing allows us to dramatically expand our efforts in providing the best technology and expertise to the people of China ,” said Yubin Xin. “We look forward to offering our automated image pre-processing solutions (ProLines), as well as our image management and on demand mapping solutions to this marketplace.”

“PCI Geomatics continues to meet the demands of an ever changing industry – and with the opening of this office later in 2008 along with the exciting growth in the Chinese market, we are ideally suited to serving the Chinese geospatial community with our expertise,” said Dr. Robert Moses, President and CEO of PCI Geomatics.

The PCI Geomatics Beijing office will open for business in the latter part of 2008.

For more information, visit www.pcigeomatics.com

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FME's Leading Conversion and Integration Capabilities Support Faster Data Sharing

Vancouver , BC , July 14, 2008 - Safe Software announced today that its FME platform, the recognized standard in spatial ETL, provides full support for GeoJSON 1.0, recently named an official geospatial data interchange format. Users looking to quickly and efficiently exchange spatial information can now convert GeoJSON data into the format and data model they need, as well as integrate it with their existing datasets.

GeoJSON brings the geospatial world to web services-based data sharing by specifying spatial data in a way that JavaScript web browsers can use instantly. Harnessing this speed, FME enables users to access GeoJSON data and then manipulate it to suit their needs. This can include clipping the data they require from a GeoJSON dataset, translating it into a useable format required by their chosen application, and adjusting the data model to meet the existing schema. With FME, users can also integrate GeoJSON data with their datasets, regardless of the format or structure, to create mashups or a more complete spatial dataset.

In addition to enabling users to consume GeoJSON data, FME allows users to share their own spatial data in the GeoJSON 1.0 specification without impacting the format and model of the source dataset. Using FME Server, the scalable and efficient data distribution solution built on the spatial ETL technology of the FME platform, users can simply convert their data into GeoJSON and stream it over their own web services.

"The GIS industry is clearly seeking specifications which meet the demanding speed requirements of our web-enabled world," says Dale Lutz, Vice President of Development at Safe Software. "Thanks to the pragmatic efforts of a small community of volunteers, GeoJSON is now available for the rapid exchange of spatial data. We're pleased to offer GeoJSON users full support in their quest to integrate and share data quickly by providing them with a way to get their data in and out of this new exchange format."

FME has provided support for GeoJSON since its early draft stages last year. This is another example of Safe Software's commitment to meeting the evolving needs of the GIS industry, including the increasing demand for sharing spatial data over the web.

For more information, visit www.safe.com

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Wayland , MA , USA , July 17, 2008. The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC®) has held its biennial election and two new directors, Lisa Campbell and Dr. John C. Curlander, have been elected to the Board of Directors.

Lisa Campbell is vice president in charge of Autodesk's Geospatial Solutions. In her role at Autodesk, she is responsible for the company's vision and strategy for geospatial technologies and solutions serving the Utility, Telecommunications and Government markets. She brings over 20 years of marketing and software industry experience to the Board's deliberations, and she brings fresh insights into the convergence of geospatial and Computer Aided Design (CAD), 3D and facilities management technologies. These convergence efforts are manifested, in part, through the Architecture/Engineering/Construction/Owner/Operator (AECOO) testbed that Autodesk will play a key role in. The AECOO testbed is being managed by OGC with the buildingSMART alliance and others.

Dr. John C. Curlander is internationally recognized for his work in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems and data processing. His research led to many of the operational techniques currently used in today's SAR processors. Prior to joining Microsoft, as President and CEO of Vexcel Corporation he led the company to significant growth in the areas of satellite ground systems, photogrammetry and radar signal processing. Since the May 2006 acquisition of Vexcel by
Microsoft, Dr. Curlander has served as General Manager of what has come to be called Microsoft Boulder. In this role, Dr. Curlander oversees the execution of the vision that Microsoft has for the group's role in the success of Virtual Earth, and thus he brings an important perspective to the Consortium's "mass market geo" activities.

David Schell, Chairman of the Board of the OGC, said, "The most important decisions we make are the decisions that bring the right people onto the Board, people who know how to work with innovative new technologies in a constructive way, who look ahead and who are capable of seeing new industry horizons. Our strategic positioning and direction are strongly influenced by our directors, and thus we are fortunate to have two new individuals who bring such a relevant and
important mix of business and technical capabilities and who are also seasoned and innovative managers."

The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 365 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OpenGIS® Standards support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/ .

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Edward Saade has been appointed President and Managing Director of Fugro-EarthData, Inc.

Taking over for Anne Hale Miglarese, who led the company's transition from private ownership to its current standing as a member of the international Fugro organization, Mr. Saade will assume responsibility for Fugro EarthData's traditional mapping, GeoSAR radar mapping, and GIS business lines to ensure a continued commitment to quality, innovation, and customer service.

Along with a background in marine- and land-based geospatial and geophysics applications, Mr. Saade also brings to the company a proven record of leadership within the Fugro organization. His appointment to head Fugro EarthData follows five successful years as president of Fugro Pelagos, a California-based company specializing in hydrographic surveying. During his tenure at Fugro Pelagos, the company doubled in size and expanded its presence within the federal and state government markets.

Citing complementary services such as airborne and bathymetric lidar offered by Fugro EarthData and Pelagos, respectively, Mr. Saade's presence at the helm of Fugro EarthData will facilitate even greater synergies between the two Fugro companies to the of benefit both domestic and international customers. "Having partnered together on projects for many years, I have long admired Fugro EarthData's capabilities and staff and was thrilled when the company became part of the Fugro group last year. I am honored to have been selected to lead this team and look forward to furthering the company's legacy of success."

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Wayland, Mass., July 17, 2008 - The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC®) announced today that PCI Geomatics has upgraded its membership level from Principal to Principal Plus. PCI Geomatics' decision to participate at this new level underscores its commitment to geospatial interoperability, the geospatial industry, and the OGC. PCI Geomatics (as PCI Remote Sensing) was one of the eight charter members of OGC at its founding in 1994.

Principal Plus members take a more active role in shaping the direction of the Consortium's standards activities and in
encouraging the use and acceptance of OpenGIS® standards worldwide. In addition to the responsibilities of Principal Members, Principal Plus members dedicate resources directly to OGC programs. PCI Geomatics has committed resources in support of OGC's outreach and business development efforts in India and China.

"PCI Geomatics sees exciting growth in the geospatial market in Asia," said Dr. Robert Moses, President and CEO of PCI Geomatics."This is a very good time for PCI to support OGC's market development activities in Asia and OGC's key role in advancing the interoperability that is necessary to drive international market growth."

Mark Reichardt, OGC President and CEO comments, "We are very pleased that PCI Geomatics is increasing its leadership role in OGC programs. The company's decision to dedicate resources to OGC's outreach and business development efforts in India and China will help accelerate our progress toward greater geospatial interoperability internationally."

For more information on Principal-Plus OGC membership, please visit http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/join/levels

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