Tag: SaaS

  • New app helps local governments reduce traffic

    New app helps local governments reduce traffic

    Photo: Geoxphere
    Photo: Geoxphere

    A new software app helps local governments in the UK plan alternative routes, infrastructure and access that facilitate walking and cycling in cities, reducing traffic. XMAP, a cloud-based web geographic information system (GIS) for local governments from Geoxphere, now offers Isochrone. It provides a detailed and visual insight into existing transport infrastructure, assessing accessibility and the local environment to calculate and compare travel times by foot, cycle and car. The tool enables planners to understand how the existing infrastructure is enabling or restricting green journeys. It also helps them model and visualize how improvements to the transport network can be made and engage with communities to promote specific schemes and opportunities for active travel.

    The XMAP Isochrone tool allows a user to create polygons on a map showing how far it is possible to drive, walk or cycle in a set amount of time. Using algorithms that take into consideration the actual road, foot path or cycle network, as well as historic speed data and average walking and cycling rates, it provides a more accurate methodology of calculating travel times compared to traditional concentric circles based on straight line distances.

    XMAP is accessible from any web-enabled device, without plug-ins, bolt-ons or additional installations. It includes a suite of inbuilt workflows to support delivery of local government services such as planning, housing, waste and recycling, and street services. XMAP comes complete with more than 250 geospatial data layers, from a variety of government agencies, as well as a fully maintained Ordnance Survey map stack.

    Provided as a Software as a Service (SaaS), XMAP allows users to create and share business-critical map data without the risks involved in using open-source silos of GIS or the high cost of traditional GIS solutions. XMAP gives access to Ordnance Survey mapping, aerial photography, together with third party and in-house datasets, for more than 1,700 government organizations as well as a range of commercial clients. 

  • Hexagon selected by Munich for shared mobility solution

    Hexagon selected by Munich for shared mobility solution

    Partnership with Fujitsu will help city track bicycles, e-scooters and ridesharing companies 

    The mobility department of Munich, Germany, has selected Hexagon Geospatial to implement a smart monitoring system to better manage and understand the impacts of shared mobility services in the city. 

    Hexagon will partner with Fujitsu to provide Munich a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for tracking, visualizing and analyzing internet of things (IoT) data from a variety of mobility providers. The solution will monitor shared vehicles, such as e-scooters, bikes and cars, and will be the first of its kind in Germany.

    The solution will also feature a dynamic digital twin of the city, allowing users to fuse the real and digital worlds and receive constant updates. Along with Hexagon’s M.App Enterprise software, Fujitsu will provide the necessary infrastructure for the project, which is designed to evolve constantly according to officials’ needs.

    Hexagon was selected from among 14 competitors based on the technical completeness and capabilities of its offering and established expertise in the transportation domain. With this smart monitoring system in place, the city can continually monitor and guide future mobility concepts based on data.

    “Shared mobility is a big issue around the world, and the city of Munich is on the leading edge of leveraging technology to manage these services,” said Maximillian Weber, senior vice president, EMEA, Hexagon’s Safety & Infrastructure and Geospatial divisions. “We are excited to deliver a system that will help officials better identify and understand transportation patterns with the goal of improving future city mobility.” 

    Tracking eScooters in Munich with Hexagon's M.App Enterprise. (Image: Hexagon Geospatial)
    Tracking eScooters in Munich with Hexagon’s M.App Enterprise. (Image: Hexagon Geospatial)
  • Verizon’s RTK precise location service launches in 100+ US markets

    Verizon’s RTK precise location service launches in 100+ US markets

    Hyper Precise Location (HPL), a real-time kinematics (RTK) service, is now available via Verizon ThingSpace to customers and application developers in more than 100 U.S. markets. When paired with Verizon’s 5G Edge capabilities, HPL provides precise positioning data for emerging cellular-vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology, which is necessary for certain safety applications.

    Verizon recently teamed with automakers to demonstrate vehicle-pedestrian safety scenarios made possible through HPL, 5G Edge and C-V2X.

    HPL is software as a service (SaaS) that provides a stream of real-time GNSS correction data to device receivers, enabling location accuracy within 1-2 centimeters, for users on 5G and 4G networks. This can enable high-scale, low-cost, centimeter-level location capabilities for industries such as automotive, HD mapping, robotics, construction, and smart agriculture (AgriTech). Designed and deployed in a privacy-protective manner, HPL does not store or share user location data.

    HPL embraces open delivery standards including RTCM for its data streams, with others to be added on a rolling basis. IoT devices using HPL can be accessed and managed through a user API and the ThingSpace IoT management platform. Support resources on ThingSpace will detail API integration, coverage availability, and more.

    “Hyper Precise Location stands to boost or enable next-gen technologies across industries, from intelligent-driving to drone delivery to highly automated operations within construction, agriculture, and much more,” said TJ Fox, SVP of Industrial IoT and automotive for Verizon Business. “HPL’s fast expanding coverage area, API friendliness, privacy protection, and use of open-delivery standards make it ideal for developers and customers demanding precision and flexibility.”

    In August, Verizon announced it is also developing HPL next-gen road safety and highly advanced driving solutions through partnerships with location and mapping expert HERE Technologies (HERE) and Renovo, the automotive software company. HPL can also support other emerging technologies that depend on high-level location accuracy, such as delivery drones, and advanced IoT applications, such as infrastructure monitoring, critical asset tracking, and high value shipping.


    Feature image: loveguli/E+/Getty Images

  • Trimble acquires e-Builder to expand construction management solutions

    Trimble has acquired privately-held e-Builder, a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based construction program management solution for capital program owners and program management firms.

    e-Builder extends Trimble’s ability to accelerate industry transformation by providing an integrated project delivery solution for owners, program managers and contractors across the design, construct and operate lifecycle, the company said.

    e-Builder manages more than $300 billion of construction project value and over 200,000 projects from some of the most influential owners in North America. Owners benefit from the e-Builder solution through improved transparency and accountability while contractors benefit from faster payments, increased productivity and improved competitive advantage.

    The e-Builder solution is uniquely designed to measure and manage every step of the capital project delivery process including planning, design, procurement, construction and operations.

    Trimble’s wide range of construction hardware and software solutions significantly improve project cost, schedule and effectiveness — beneficially impacting owners, architects, engineers and contractors. The Trimble presence in construction has two points of focus, one on civil engineering projects and the other on the construction of buildings and structures. Both will benefit from the e-Builder acquisition.

    Trimble solutions leverage constructible building information model (BIM) workflows to integrate processes, improve information fidelity, reduce rework, establish transparency and deliver higher productivity. By using Trimble technologies, contractors and owners are realizing substantial reductions in total project cost.

    The combination of Trimble and e-Builder accelerates value creation for both owners and contractors by combining e-Builder’s best practice solutions for owners with Trimble’s construction lifecycle solutions, access to contractors and global reach.

    The combined solution portfolio will accelerate the integration of field operations with enterprise needs, enabling additional productivity gains. The tangible benefits include more consistent on-time and within-budget project delivery that is enabled by improved visibility, clear accountability for outcomes and the ability to convert large volumes of disparate data into actionable workflows and measurable outcomes.

    “e-Builder has always recognized that owners play a key role in the construction lifecycle and that their influence will be key to the adoption of transformative construction technology,” said Steven Berglund, president and CEO of Trimble. “Trimble will extend its reach into the owner community by leveraging e-Builder’s presence. In turn, we intend to aggressively bring e-Builder solutions to civil and building contractors and the international market. We see a significant opportunity in leveraging data and intelligence gained through design-construct workflows across the full infrastructure lifecycle. e-Builder’s solutions and, more importantly, its organization provide a strong platform for significant growth.”

    “e-Builder’s mission is to improve project execution to make construction faster, less expensive and more reliable,” said Ron Antevy, president and CEO of e-Builder. “The addition of our solutions to Trimble’s broad portfolio extends our collective ability to best support owners and contractors with project delivery and management. e-Builder current and future customers will benefit from Trimble’s construction management expertise, culture of innovation and global reach to take e-Builder solutions to the next level.”

    The e-Builder business will be reported as part of the Buildings and Infrastructure Segment.

    Financial Terms

    The all cash purchase price of $500 million will be financed through a new $300 million credit facility and cash. The new facility has terms and conditions similar to the existing revolver with a 364 day term.

    e-Builder’s reported trailing twelve month revenue is approximately $53 million. In recent years, e-Builder’s revenue growth rate has exceeded 20 percent annually, with greater than 65 percent subscription revenue as a percentage of total revenue. The transaction is expected to be dilutive to Trimble’s first quarter non-GAAP net income per share by $0.01 per share and dilutive to full year 2018 non-GAAP net income per share by $0.02 to $0.03 per share, due to the impact of fair value accounting of e-Builder’s deferred revenue and interest expense. Trimble expects the acquisition to be accretive to 2019 non-GAAP net income per share.

    An overview of e-Builder and the strategic rationale for the acquisition is available on Trimble’s Investor Relations website. For a more detailed description of the acquisition and credit agreements see Trimble’s Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Feb. 2, 2018.

    About e-Builder

    Founded in 1995, e-Builder is a provider of integrated, cloud-based construction program management software for top facility owners and the companies that act on their behalf.

    The company’s flagship product, e-Builder Enterprise, improves capital project execution, resulting in increased productivity and quality, reduced cost and faster project delivery.

    Since 1995, e-Builder’s technology leadership and construction industry focus have helped thousands of global companies, government agencies, and health care and educational institutions manage billions of dollars in capital programs with solutions to improve the plan, build and operate lifecycle.

    The company is based in Plantation, Florida.

  • Omnitracs Updates Roadnet Anywhere Fleet Management Platform

    Omnitracs-logoOmnitracs Roadnet Technologies has made available Roadnet Anywhere v3.8, the newest version of its SaaS vehicle routing, tracking, mobile workforce, telematics and fleet management platform. The updated software now delivers improved performance tracking with the Insight data visualization application and advanced capabilities to analyze Service Patterns in order to support strategic analysis, says the company.

    “In the past, fleets were forced to analyze multiple data points across various disparate systems, making it difficult to conduct cross-metric analysis across such things as driver safety, miles driven and customer commitments met,” said Kevin Haugh, general manager of Omnitracs Roadnet Technologies. “By rolling out the newest update to the Roadnet Anywhere platform, Omnitracs is reinforcing its commitment to its comprehensive, cloud-based platform. As the company continues to rapidly deploy new features to its SaaS fleet management platform — integrating routing, dispatching, telematics, customer notifications and analytics in a single, web-based tool — fleets can better monitor and reduce risk, promote safety and secure savings.”

    New to Roadnet Anywhere, Service Pattern Analyzer evaluates planned and/or actual deliveries and automates the information needed to create strategic plans. The tool saves fleets time and labor costs and streamlines the once-cumbersome process of manually collecting and collating data from several systems, says Omnitracs.

    The Insight tool now gives users the ability to easily define metric oriented rules as well as create and view multiple measures as part of one form of data visualization. Available metrics through Insight span the complete range of information from Roadnet routing, dispatching, proof of delivery and telematics products.

    “The Omnitracs Roadnet Anywhere platform is on a constant path to evolve. By continuing to update the Roadnet Anywhere SaaS platform, we’re able to provide customers with actionable control and insights in real time,” said Cyndi Brandt, senior director of product marketing and alliances for Omnitracs Roadnet. “With these enhancements, Omnitracs is empowering fleets to operate more efficiently without compromising service or profits.”