Cambridge, UK: 1Spatial announced an innovative new extension to AutoCAD. MapRelate is a new complementary component for standard AutoCAD, that allows users to gain instant, live access to their local or corporately held spatial data from within their native AutoCAD environment.

Through the use of this simple extension, AutoCAD users can now combine or overlay their design data with real-time detailed spatial data without the need to translate or convert it into a different format. The solution is designed to improve design precision and provide a mechanism for architects, engineers and data administrators to meet legal and customer obligations at reduced costs.

MapRelate utilises the power and flexibility of Autodesk's cross-platform FDO (Feature Data Objects) interface for truly live, independent access to geospatial data files and datastores of virtually any format. This allows CAD users to enjoy the benefit of sharing live corporate mapping databases, such as Ordnance Survey's MasterMap® in the UK.

MapRelate provides real value by introducing the benefits of geospatial data to AutoCAD users in their familiar environment. This provides traditional CAD users with an initial stepping stone to the full power of Autodesk's geospatial AutoCAD Map 3D 2009 platform.

Richmond Hill, Ontario: PCI Geomatics, developer of software and solutions for geospatial imaging applications, announced the release of ProLines. These highly automated image processing chains are used to correct, mosaic and enhance imagery, as well as extract elevation data derived from satellite and airborne sensors. Built using the PCI Geomatics Professional Software Development Kit (ProSDK) and advanced Pluggable Functions (PPF) framework, ProLines are designed for production environments and can process large amounts of image data in an unassisted fashion, thus reducing labour costs and dramatically shortening throughput time.

An extension of PCI GeomaticaX technology, ProLines are workflows that enable the automation of repetitive tasks used for orthorectification, mosaicking, pan-sharpening, tone balancing and other image processing jobs. These cost-effective workflows can be deployed as standalone processing chains or easily integrated into an existing production framework.

“PCI Geomatics’ new ProLines represent the next generation of image pre-processing,” said Brad Schmidt, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at PCI Geomatics. “With ProLines, our customers will be able to significantly increase their image-processing requirements, while realizing a substantial savings in both time and money.”

ProLines are available for all PCI supported airborne and satellite sensors and can be easily customized to meet specific image processing needs. They can also be configured to work with PCI Geomatics’ Job Control System (JCS) for scalability across multiple servers with many processors

Sydney, Australia: A vulnerability assessment released by CSIRO and the Sydney Coastal Councils Group (SCCG) will help Sydney coastal councils understand their vulnerability to climate change and prepare to adapt to potential impacts.

“The consequences of climate change in Sydney’s coastal region will be driven as much by socio-economic factors and decision making as by climate hazards such as heat waves and storm surges,” says research leader Dr Benjamin Preston, from the CSIRO Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship.

The three-phase project began by using climate change projections and socio-economic data to generate maps of vulnerability to five climate change impacts: extreme heat and health effects; sea-level rise and coastal management; extreme rainfall and storm-water management; bushfires; and ecosystems and natural resources.

These maps were used in ‘stakeholder’ workshops with all 15 SCCG member councils that were designed to improve researchers’ and the councils’ understanding of the causes and potential impacts of those changes.

The project’s final phase – a series of case studies based on the vulnerability assessment and council stakeholder workshops – aims to identify the factors that influence councils’ capacity to respond to climate change.

This analysis will study institutional issues affecting adaptation – decision making processes, planning schemes, community aspirations and infrastructure demands – to help councils adapt to climate change through future management decisions.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Fugro NV has acquired BKS Surveys Ltd., an aerial mapping services company based in Northern Ireland, from Amalgamated Metal Corp. for an undisclosed sum. BKS Surveys employs 100 and has an annual turnover of 6.2 million euros, Fugro said.

The company, to be renamed Fugro-BKS, will fall under Fugro's geospatial services, which produces data-sets and maps.

San Diego, USA: Linspire, Inc., developer of CNR.com, the free and easy to use one-click digital software delivery service for desktop Linux software, announced the immediate availability of Google Earth for Freespire 2.0, Linspire 6.0, Ubuntu 7.04 & 7.10 (32 bit) desktop Linux users. Available for download and installation with one-click through CNR.com, Google Earth is a free software download from Google that combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google's search service to make the world's geographic information easily accessible and useful.

"We are excited to have Google Earth available to users of our one-click, free, Linux software delivery service," said Larry Kettler, President & CEO of Linspire, Inc. "With CNR.com you have a complete software marketplace that provides easy access to everything that Linux users of all levels need."

Google Earth allows users to explore the world and create content overlays (KML files) to share explorations with others. In addition, Google Earth offers a wealth of imagery as well as geographic and astronomical information to the user.

Google Earth Features include:
· Web-based map services
· Integrated local search, including business listings and driving directions
· Tilt, zoom and rotate tools
· Search for businesses
· Virtual "Play" button gives a virtual helicopter tour of the user's route
· 3-D buildings - Placemarks saves geographic data for easy return to favorites
· Layers allow users to choose among dozens of layers to add to the view -- roads, dining, schools, railroads, stadiums, as well as terrain, borders, geographical features and many more
· Measure Tool helps users to get detail on a particular distance
Google Earth is available at www.cnr.com/product/googleearth.

Aylesbury, UK: ESRI (UK) has launched CrimeAnalyst version 1.5, a GIS software solution for mapping, analysing and sharing crime data, with quicker “hotspotting” analysis and large dataset workflow.

Widely used by UK police forces, including South Yorkshire and Leicestershire Police, CrimeAnalyst is built on ESRI ArcGIS GIS technology, helping police forces collect, combine, visualise, analyse, and share crime information in real-time, and goes beyond traditional crime “hotspotting” software to deliver in-depth, live location-based intelligence.
The software enables South Yorkshire police force analysts to produce the latest neighbourhood specific crime trends against high level resource allocation data for example, while also updating its mapping data every two weeks in line with the UK’s National Intelligence Model (NIM) framework.

CrimeAnalyst 1.5 has been released to further improve ease of use including:

· Faster hotspot analysis -Processing speed has been improved substantially by streamlining the number of processing tasks run simultaneously to focus on the most common used - saving time for more in-depth data interrogation

· More accurate and reliable temporal analysis – CrimeAnalyst now automatically works through all the Police time formats it supports for each record, and now indicates the number of records (if any) that were excluded because their date and/or time values could not be interpreted using any of the configured formats. This ensures the maximum number of records is included in the process for higher statistical accuracy and by knowing what was excluded, allowing easier assessment of the validity of the sample.

· Full support for file-based geodatabases - for individual users, this allows large databases generated from the many functions within CrimeAnalyst to be saved and accessed more easily at desktop level, speeding up workflows

· Automatic installation for all users - for greater speed and ease of loading by IT departments, meaning it’s now easier for the administrator to install CrimeAnalyst in environments with multiple users

· Additional support for international users - CrimeAnalyst can now adopt the mapping projections of different countries at the touch of a button (Note: this applies to international version of the release)

In a recent CrimeAnalyst user survey, over 75 per cent of respondents estimated they were saving up to five hours per week on crime data analysis using the system – a potential time saving of up to 6 weeks per analyst per year.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Jones from the Leicestershire Constabulary said: “Because we have good quality, reliable information at our fingertips, we can direct our police resources to precisely the areas where they are most needed. This enables us to save valuable time and improve our overall effectiveness in disrupting the activities of crime networks and preventing crime.”

Rick Naylor, specialist consultant in Policing and Community Safety, commented: “Tools such as CrimeAnalyst are helping forces make better use of the wide range of disparate, real time data now at their disposal, more quickly and easily than before. It all counts towards meeting their objectives for reducing risk, fear and harm”

CHANTILLY, VA: Spot Image has added nine new nations and regions to its line of SPOTMaps mosaics including Iraq, Kuwait and North Korea. Available for immediate purchase, SPOTMaps provide seamless uniform coverage comprised of 2.5-meter, natural-color SPOT 5 satellite imagery acquired within the past three years.

Offered in nationwide and regional orthorectified mosaics, SPOTMaps serve as the ideal geographic basemap layer for any visualization, planning or mapping project that requires a synoptic territorial view combined with close-up geographic detail. SPOTMaps may be purchased online at http://access.spot.com as entire mosaics or custom cut into the end user’s precise area of interest. The cost is only $3/square kilometer.

“SPOTMaps are being used extensively as basemap layers in defense/intelligence, oil and gas, and military communications applications,” said Bruce Ogden, SPOT Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “SPOTMaps arrive ready to upload and use in any GIS or digital mapping environment.”

Since introducing SPOTMaps products in 2007, SPOT has released more than 25 nations and regions including many parts of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In addition to Iraq, Kuwait and North Korea, the latest SPOTMaps releases are Botswana, Zimbabwe, North Chile, Namibia, Eastern South Africa and Australia.

In addition to being available for immediate online purchase, SPOTMaps are unique products because they enable users to view entire territories from a regional perspective while also seeing detailed infrastructure and land forms at 2.5-meter spatial resolution. The mosaics are suitable for working at map scales up to 1:10,000 and integrate with any type of georeferenced database.