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GISWeekly examines select top news each week, picks out worthwhile reading from around the web, and special interest items you might not find elsewhere. This issue will feature Industry News, Top News of the Week, Acquisitions/Agreements/Alliances, Announcements, People, New Products, and Events Calendar.
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Susan Smith, Managing Editor
Industry News
Correction: In last week’s coverage of the FOSS4G Conference, GISWeekly incorrectly stated that the event was held in Vancouver, BC. It was held in Victoria, BC.
Nokia Will Acquire NAVTEQ
by Susan Smith
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According to Nokia president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, location based services (LBS) is the cornerstone of Nokia’s strategy. Location context will add value to many Nokia services and devices. Nokia and NAVTEQ customers will also benefit from building navigation systems for industry partners.
With the acquisition of NAVTEQ, Nokia’s plans are to broaden from mobile navigation devices to pedestrian navigation and automotive navigation systems, internet-based mapping applications and government and business solutions.
What NAVTEQ brings to the table for Nokia is a great team with maps and navigation industry expertise, strong customer base and an industry leading map data and technology platform with broad geographical coverage.
NAVTEQ CEO Judson Green said that company is the “leading global provider of digital maps and digital content for wireless location based services application and navigation, licensed for use in customer’s devices.” NAVTEQ has released maps of 10 new countries this year. “In addition, we continuously build out and expand countries in our databases, adding 3D imagery, real time traffic information and points of interest.” The company is headquartered in Chicago with 3,000 employees in offices around world.
Green described NAVTEQ as being “uniquely positioned in multiple growth markets around the world.” NAVTEQ customers are touched more than 1 million times a day.
Further, NAVTEQ data provides navigation to customers in the form of street names, addresses, turn restrictions, and one way streets. “The only way to insure our maps depict reality is for our analysts to drive roads every day,” said Green. They collect over 200 new features every day.
Every car manufacturer in Europe and North America uses NAVTEQ in at least one car model. Green said that one half of all the portable devices sold in the first half of this year have been NAVTEQ equipped. Business of all kinds and government license NAVTEQ data on the web, bringing an enormous customer base to Nokia. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft all want to offer directions and maps and advertising to consumers beyond the desktop yet they don’t know how to make their own maps and must buy their maps from NAVTEQ and its competitors.
Nokia, with its 900 million mobile device owners, has been in telephony for the past 20 years. Mobile devices are becoming the “most popular way to share content,” according to Anassi Vanjo, head of the Multimedia Business Group at Nokia.
Nokia is aware that their users note the “new usefulness of the internet,” said Vanjo. “Location and context information are key components in search, navigation, videos, and location information helps build the next phase of the web.” Nokia will be marketing a new offering to include the areas of entertainment, communities and location based services. Their new GPS enabled Nokia N95 multimedia computer will ship with the Nokia Maps solution, a location based services solution.
Nokia sees having the map data and consumer services under one roof as a very powerful combination to give them “incremental advantage in the location based services business.”
Nokia mentioned “pedestrian based” navigation numerous times, by which they must mean in the commercial sense, being able to find your friends via the map on your device. The navigation device will allow you to create your own media, photos and combine that with map data. Not all products will have GPS but all the devices connected to the Internet can benefit from map information.
NAVTEQ data can be expanded faster, according to Vanjo. Its open APIs make it more valuable to customers. The combination of the two companies’ assets will allow Nokia to serve both sets of customers, and the acquisition allows NAVTEQ to continue its investment in its database.
In the Q&A period following the press audio conference, the question was asked if the acquisition of TeleAtlas by Tom Tom that was announced in July influenced this announcement by Nokia and NAVTEQ. TomTom is the world’s largest maker of car navigation devices, and Tele Atlas is NAVTEQ’s main mapmaking competitor. Tele Atlas incidentally sold to Tom Tom for $2.7 billion to NAVTEQ’s $8.1 billion.
Nokia did not reply directly to the question, but replied: “We are moving on our consumer internet services. We’ve been doing acquisitions and a lot of internal investment things…There is an explosion in mobile device industry and we are recognizing the brand of both companies together.”
Nokia also stated that factory installed navigation such as that found in the automotive industry as well as the untapped personal pedestrian navigation (PND) market were driving their decisions.
Questions about the pricing of map data arose. “Pricing will be competitive. We will move to make this more available to more devices around the world,” said Green. “The space is getting complex, a map is not a simple thing. There will be more content added to the underlying map which does give the opportunity to price separately from the underlying map.”
Kallasvuo said that this time next year handsets will have GPS, and Nokia will “play the game with open [source], we will have APIs so other companies can participate. We are all lost every day. We want to find places, and find people. Nokia will generate a completely new open business arena.”
NAVTEQ’s map business will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia. After the acquisition it will continue to be operated independently.
Nokia Does a Map Deal, Signaling Strategic Bet by Laura M. Holson, The New York Times, October 2, 2007
Top News of the Week
The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) have announced a new name for its joint conference. The 2008 conference will be the first one presented under this name: The URISA/NENA Addressing Conference. The conference will take place April 7-10, 2008 in Portland, Oregon.
Acquisitions/Agreements/Alliances
North West Geomatics Ltd. and Airborne Imaging announced that they have executed a Letter of Intent to combine their existing LiDAR library data in western Canada and to begin joint LiDAR collection for areas not yet acquired. The immediate goal is to complete LiDAR acquisition for substantially all of the province of Alberta, NE British Columbia and portions of southern Saskatchewan.
The Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) and ESRI, the world leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, have entered into a strategic relationship to facilitate broader adoption of GIS technology to support all aspects of fire service. The CPSE-ESRI relationship will assist decision makers across the emergency services spectrum by improving access to critical spatial and tabular information about their communities including data related to buildings, streets, utility assets, and infrastructure.
Information Builders, the leader in production business intelligence ( BI) systems, announced that it has reached a worldwide OEM agreement with ESRI. Information Builders will now bundle ESRI ArcGIS Server along with its WebFOCUS business intelligence and iWay Software integration solutions.
The First American Corporation, America's largest provider of business information, announced that it has acquired Proxix Solutions, a leader in the geospatial industry. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Proxix Solutions combines location intelligence with enterprise solutions to help businesses make more informed decisions, understand and mitigate risks, cultivate profitable customer relationships and increase market penetration. With current customers ranging from the property and casualty insurance industry to telecommunications, Proxix adds a new dimension to First American's strategic initiative of combining our vast databases with predictive analytics for growth in new industries. Proxix will be integrated into the newly formed First American Spatial Solutions division based in Austin, Texas.
XeDAR Corporation, a provider of complex data management and security solutions, announced that it has acquired Pixxures, Inc. in a Form A stock for stock transaction.
Colorado-based Pixxures is a provider of aerial photographic mapping products and services, direct-digital orthophotography, planimetric and topographic mapping, vector alignment, and GIS products and services via the Internet. Pixxures generated over $5,500,000 in revenues in 2006, and so far in 2007 is ahead of that revenue generation rate.
Announcements
GeoEye, Inc., producer of satellite and aerial imagery and geospatial information, announced that it has successfully secured approximately $270 million of launch and first-year on-orbit insurance for its next-generation GeoEye-1 satellite. This insurance was obtained at a premium rate that was less than previously anticipated. The launch of GeoEye-1 is slated for late first quarter or early second quarter 2008 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Eye-Sys®, a data-driven, real-time visualization system, has been offered to select user communities in a mature beta form.
In preparation for the software’s commercial launch, expected in the fourth quarter of 2007, beta testers are invited to the website to download the software and view a short movie which depicts Eye-Sys in action, visualizing systems from numerous scientific and engineering disciplines in real-time.
Pictometry International Corp., leader in digital, aerial oblique imagery and easy-to-use measuring software systems announced that its Mobile Training Lab has recently completed its 7th road trip to county customers who opted for this level of Pictometry training in conjunction with the delivery of their county-wide aerial imaging library and software. The Mobile training lab has very recently been deployed across the country in states such as Florida, Minnesota, and Texas.
Research and Markets has announced the addition of "Geographical Information Systems - Portfolio Analysis" to their offering.
The Portfolio Analysis - Geographical Information Systems is a comprehensive evaluation of the UK market. The revised and updated 2007 edition analyses the financial performance of the companies important to the success of your business. Using the most up to date information available, the analysis is ideal both as a tool to benchmark your own company's results and to study the market in more depth.
People
Science Applications International Corporation announced that K. Stuart Shea, senior vice president and general manager of SAIC's Space and Geospatial Intelligence Business Unit, will become president of SAIC's Intelligence, Security and Technology (IST) Group effective today.
New Products
Optech Incorporated, a provider of advanced lidar survey instruments, announced a major upgrade to ALTM-NAV integrated mission planning, navigation, and operations software through the incorporation of underlying digital elevation models (DEM).
With this upgrade, ALTM-NAV users will be able to plan airborne missions more effectively and efficiently using ancillary DEM information from a variety of sources. Since mission success is often gauged by the ability to collect complete data in the most efficient manner possible, an underlying DEM will enable planners to be aware of topographical changes that may affect swath widths and resultant planned flightline overlaps.
PCI Geomatics, a developer of image-centric software and solutions for the geospatial industry, is pleased to announce the release of Geomatica 10.1.1. This release features notable enhancements to sensor support as well as additional functionality within the software.
Upcoming Events
| 14th Annual South Florida GIS Expo | |
| Date: | October 4 - 5, 2007 |
| Place: | Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Boulevard, West Palm Beach, FL 33401 USA |
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a horizontal technology that intersects all industries. It blends the geographic sciences with information technology. This conference is for the novice to the analyst, the technologist to the executive. Disciplines of interest include:
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| 2007 ESRI Health GIS Conference | |
| Date: | October 7 - 10, 2007 |
| Place: | Firesky Resort & Spa
Scottsdale, AZ USA |
| The Health GIS Conference October 7-10, 2007, in Scottsdale, Arizona, brings health and human services professionals together to share and discuss successful approaches to using geography to improve research, management, policy decisions, public health and hospital preparedness, and health care delivery.
The ESRI Health GIS Conference provides a forum for you to examine specialized capabilities and opportunities for managing and sharing geospatial data and analysis in a GIS framework for community health programs, health care delivery, hospitals, epidemiology, disease surveillance, health research, and more.
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| 2007 Electric & Gas User Group Meeting | |
| Date: | October 8 - 11, 2007 |
| Place: | Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
Nashville, TN USA |
| Be part of the 2007 EGUG annual meeting October 8–11, 2007 in Nashville, Tennessee, to explore how GIS serves electric and gas utilities. Discussions will examine desktop usability, spatial data management, server-based GIS, mobile solutions, and Web services.
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| 17th Annual Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium Conference and Workshops | |
| Date: | October 10 - 12, 2007 |
| Place: | Mayo Civic Center
Rochester, MN USA |
| The event will feature structured workshops, technical sessions, panel discussions, technology demonstrations, project updates and local and national speakers. All are geared toward professionals interested in learning more about geographic information systems and land information systems technology in Minnesota and beyond.
The objective of the conference is to provide GIS/LIS related informational and educational opportunities for anyone in business, government, or education interested in spatial analysis technologies.
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| Rocket City Geospatial Conference | |
| Date: | October 15 - 17, 2007 |
| Place: | Huntsville Marriott ,5 Tranquility Base
Huntsville, Alabama 35805, USA |
| Huntsville, Alabama, "the Rocket City", is home to a diverse blend of technology from aerospace, defense, research and development, and private industry. This technology base provides the foundation for hosting the "Rocket City Geospatial Conference". The unique relationship between NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the Redstone Arsenal, the University of Alabama-Huntsville, and the many private firms in the region supports a variety of R&D projects affecting government, education and commerce.
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| Citilabs International User Conference | |
| Date: | October 21 - 24, 2007 |
| Place: | Palm Springs, CA USA |
| Citilabs is pleased to invite you to Futura 07, the annual Citilabs International User Conference, from October 21 to 24, 2007. This is a unique opportunity for you and your colleagues to meet other users and share your knowledge and the successes you have had with Cube and other Citilabs software. Citilabs will also hold optional pre-conference and post-conference software training which will extend the full activities of Futura 07 from October 20 to 26, 2007.
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| GEOINT 2007 | |
| Date: | October 21 - 24, 2007 |
| Place: | Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
San Antonio, TX USA |
| The annual GEOINT Symposium, hosted by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), is the Nation’s Premier Intelligence Event. Each year, more than 2,500 attendees visit GEOINT to discover cutting-edge geospatial intelligence technologies, converse with top leaders in the intelligence community, learn from academia, and network with government, industry, academic, and military leaders.
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| CRSS/ASPRS 2007 | |
| Date: | October 28 - November 1, 2007 |
| Place: | Ottawa, CA Canada |
| The American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing (ASPRS) and the Canadian Remote Sensing Society (CRSS – a society member of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute) are organizing an exciting conference around the theme of Our Common Borders - Safety, Security and the Environment through Remote Sensing. This conference will showcase mapping, imaging techniques and associated remote sensing projects in both countries that are promoting and enhancing cross-border geospatial cooperation.
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| 2007 ESRI Middle East and North Africa User Conference | |
| Date: | October 29 - 31, 2007 |
| Place: | Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, Oman |
| The event will host GIS professionals and end users from around the Middle East and North Africa, as well as hardware vendors, GIS solution providers, and local government agencies all keen on demonstrating their products and solutions. The user paper presentations provide a forum for attendees to share their experiences, problems, solutions, and methodologies with users who share similar requirements. Users will be invited to present their best map products/posters produced using GIS over the past twelve months in a dedicated display area at the conference.
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| 2007 IMTA Asia Pacific Annual Conference & Trade Show | |
| Date: | November 2 - 3, 2007 |
| Place: | Gold Coast International Hotel
Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia |