GPS World

Tag: intergraph

  • Intergraph Unveils ArcGIS Editor, Establishes User Experience Lab

    Intergraph Security, Government and Infrastructure (SG&I) has unveiled I/Map Editor for ArcGIS, a product that works directly with Esri’s ArcGIS Platform to migrate geospatial data into Intergraph’s Computer-Aided Dispatch software (I/CAD), creating greater efficiencies for users of both systems.

    Also, SG&I has established Studio One, a user experience design and development lab that provides space for multi-disciplinary teams to collaborate on innovative, user-centered products and solutions.

    I/Map Editor for ArcGIS brings advanced mapping features to Intergraph’s map build environment, automating and streamlining map creation in I/CAD. I/Map Editor for ArcGIS is designed to minimize the number of different systems and steps required for ArcGIS users, offering them a one-stop shop for uploading data into their I/CAD system.

    ‘I/Map Editor for ArcGIS enables ArcGIS users to more efficiently get their GIS data into I/CAD using tools familiar to them,” said Kalyn Sims, chief technology officer, Intergraph SG&I. “It also provides them with the ability to more frequently update their data, which benefits agencies and the public they serve. Our goal is to provide public safety organizations with the most up-to-date geospatial data possible within their first responder systems.”

    Intergraph’s industry-leading I/CAD system is critical to public safety operations, enabling agencies to quickly answer emergency and non-emergency calls, create and update incidents and manage multiple resources in real time. Intergraph’s I/Map Editor products facilitate the use of GIS data as the source of mapping information in I/CAD.

    Built on Intergraph’s GeoMedia, I/Map Editor permits the use of GIS data from third-party systems as the source of map graphics in I/CAD. Built on ArcGIS, the new I/Map Editor for ArcGIS enables I/CAD map production within ArcGIS. An extension hosted in ArcMap, it natively connects to Esri data sources.

    In March, Intergraph and Esri announced collaborative efforts to enhance geospatial capabilities for public safety and security agencies. Through the collaboration, the companies have been working together to more tightly align Intergraph’s I/CAD software and Esri’s ArcGIS Platform.

    Studio One. Located at Intergraph SG&I’s headquarters, Studio One is an extension of the company’s strategic efforts to ensure its products are built to meet the needs of users, some of whom are in high-pressure environments.

    “The methodologies and technologies of UX (user experience) are maturing very quickly. For example, now we can accurately assess whether software raises or lowers stress,” said Amy Hawkins, UX team manager, Intergraph SG&I. “As we move information technology closer and closer to users, in the form of mobile and wearable devices, we need to be very sure that we are making people’s jobs easier, not harder. That’s why we established Studio One.”

    Comprised of a distributed group of user researchers, designers, technical architects and functional designers, Intergraph SG&I’s UX team conducts customer site visits, ethnographic observation, interviews and surveys to understand customer workflows and environments. The UX team has traveled to multiple cities across the U.S., visiting a dozen different public safety agencies in four different metropolitan areas. In the Denver area, the team conducted approximately 47 ride-alongs with police, firefighters and emergency medical services personnel.

    The UX team works with product development teams to build usage metrics collection into Intergraph SG&I’s products so that strategists and design and development teams have the best possible data on which to base product direction decisions. The team also works with research groups at universities such as Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and the University of Alabama in Huntsville to get independent perspectives on user mental models and emerging technologies.

    “By working directly with users, we get a clear understanding of how to meet customer needs now and in the future as new technologies and challenges emerge,” Hawkins said. “Our customers are in the business of providing important public services. Studio One is all about, helping people help people.”

    Intergraph SG&I’s UX team will meet with customers for UX assessments during HxGN LIVE, Hexagon’s annual international user conference, in Las Vegas from June 1-4.

  • Intergraph Introduces SmartPlant FreeView

    Intergraph released SmartPlant FreeView, a free .VUE viewer that allows users to display and navigate Intergraph 3D models and view associated plant properties.

     

    According to the announcement, SmartPlant FreeView will open any Intergraph SmartPlant 3D and SmartMarine 3D projects published as a .VUE file. A user then may walk through the plant, ship or offshore model and select any object in the view to see its associated plant properties via the MDB2 package. Intergraph’s SmartPlant Review Publisher can convert and combine SmartPlant 3D and SmartMarine 3D, as well as other project types, into .VUE and MDB2 formats for viewing with SmartPlant FreeView or Intergraph’s full-capability visualization solution, SmartPlant Review.

    Intergraph reports that the free .VUE viewer has a complete set of on-screen navigation controls for easy use, allowing even the most casual user to walk through complex 3D models with no training. Keyboard navigation is equally simple. An orientation axis is displayed in the view to help the user maintain direction. SmartPlant FreeView also has a surface measure command to display accurate distances between objects.

    Vlad Savulian, engineering systems lead for AMEC Natural Resources and one of the many industry experts who worked with Intergraph on the requirements for a free .VUE viewer, said access to SmartPlant FreeView will benefit companies of all sizes, especially those collaborating on mega-projects.

    “On the oil sands projects in Canada, AMEC works with a large number of clients, partners and subcontractors who could benefit from viewing the 3D model,” Savulian said. “With SmartPlant FreeView, they will be able to easily navigate the plant model, view properties, make comments on what they see or ask questions about what they don’t understand. With the introduction of SmartPlant FreeView, we will be able to extend model review capabilities to a much broader audience.”

    Gerhard Sallinger, Intergraph Process, Power & Marine president, agreed: “SmartPlant FreeView enables our customers and their suppliers to increase productivity and competiveness without increasing costs. The use of SmartPlant 3D and SmartMarine 3D has doubled in the last two years. With that tremendous growth comes the need for a variety of users, including design, engineering, construction, operations and maintenance, to view these complex 3D models.

    “Now, for example, an engineering company can provide a 3D model to a potential subcontractor who can use SmartPlant FreeView for a preliminary review and bid based on the actual model rather than a collection of drawings – without having to purchase viewing software,” Sallinger said. “Then once the work is awarded, the subcontractor can upgrade to SmartPlant Review for more in-depth review and analysis capabilities.”