Tag: technology

Epson Launches Next-Generation Large-Format Color Printers
Epson America has introduced its next-generation family of large-format color printers — the Epson SureColor T3270, T5270, T7270, T5270D, and T7270D. Available in both single- and now dual-roll models, the SureColor T-Series features the Epson PrecisionCore TFP print head and Epson UltraChrome XD pigment ink to provide technical, corporate and marketing professionals an unprecedented combination of precision, performance and brilliance, the company said. The new line will be available in September.

“The next-generation of SureColor T-Series printers were designed based on direct feedback from customers who demand cost-effective, versatile and scalable printing solutions,” said Timothy Check, product manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc. “The new SureColor T-Series printers not only meet the specific requirements of today’s engineering and scientific professionals, they incorporate the latest in printing technology to create accurate large-format prints well-suited for a variety of projects and applications, ranging from CAD drawings and GIS maps to corporate graphics and retail posters.”

The Epson SureColor T-Series delivers extreme line accuracy with resolutions up to 2880 x 1440 dpi at incredibly fast speeds — producing a presentation quality D-size plot in as little as 25 seconds, the company said. For increased efficiency, the SureColor T-Series single-roll printers use a horizontal catch basket for enhanced output stacking, while the dual-roll printers feature a high-capacity catch basket for quick retrieval and reduced sorting time.

In addition, the SureColor T-Series 36- and 44-inch printer models offer an optional multifunction (MFP) module, enabling PC-free full-color scan and copy capabilities — up to 36-inches wide — at best-in-class speeds for added convenience. In addition, ergonomic design with intuitive copy and scan-to-share capabilities ensures seamless integration to maximize workflow performance, Epson said.

The SureColor T-Series is comprised of five printer models, offering varying performance and feature sets to accommodate a range of printing needs:

The SureColor T3270, T5270, T7270, T5270D, and T7270D offer a range of value-added features that help lower total cost of ownership and increase productivity, including:
- Three printer widths: The SureColor T-Series features maximum print widths of 24, 36, and 44 inches, with minimal floor space requirements to fit virtually anywhere.
- Optional multifunction MFP: An optional upgrade for 36- and 44-inch single- and dual-roll T-Series models, the PC-free MFP Scanner leverages Epson’s REALOID image processing engine to produce crisp color D-size copies in under 40 seconds, and best-in-class color scan speeds up to 6.0 inches per second — maximizing productivity.
- Epson UltraChrome XD ink: Epson pigmented ink delivers brilliant color and crisp lines on virtually any paper type, as well as truly archival and extremely smudge and water-resistant output; the SureColor T-Series printers are designed to be used exclusively with these specially-formulated inks, and not with other brands of cartridges or inks.
- Varied ink capacities: To maximize efficiency and keep printing costs low, each of the five ink colors — cyan, magenta, yellow, photo black, and matte black — are available in 110 ml, 350 ml and high-capacity 700 ml cartridge sizes, which can be used interchangeably to accommodate a range of printing needs; all cartridges are front-loading for easy access.
- Epson PrecisionCore TFP print head: Offers high-performance and consistency for accurate plotting with high-precision line detail and minimum line widths as thin as 0.018 mm, along with variable size ink droplet technology for remarkable photographic print quality
- Current and future-ready print language: Epson Precision XD printer language sets a new standard for high-performance, high-resolution printing, compatible with today’s latest applications and workflow software
- Optional internal print server: An internal 320GB print server boosts workgroup productivity by quickly transferring print jobs to free-up workstations; adds print queue management, as well as print job save and reprint functionality.
- Optional True Adobe Postscript 3 hardware engine: Fastest in-class postscript engine enables direct and hot-folder batch printing and support for secure PDF printing; includes the optional internal print server hardware.
- Control panel: Full color LCD panel with simple button layout provides quick access to printer features and controls, as well as an intuitive help system for most frequent tasks
- Professional media handling: Supports virtually any media type in roll or cut-sheet, from plain bond paper to 1.5 mm thick posterboard, for use with a wide variety of print applications.
July 24, 2014
Esri Introduces ArcGIS Explorer for Apple Mac

Esri has released Explorer for ArcGIS on the Mac, a native OS X application to discover, view, and share maps. The ready-to-use app joins Esri’s family of mapping apps, including Collector for ArcGIS, Dashboard for ArcGIS, and Explorer for ArcGIS on iOS. It can be downloaded from the Mac App Store and Esri ArcGIS Marketplace.

Explorer for ArcGIS running on OSX

According to the announcement, with Explorer for ArcGIS, users can access maps, search for and visualize data, and brief stakeholders. In the new Mac version, users also have the ability to open and view multiple maps at once, dock and undock pop-up windows, and go full screen — taking advantage of Apple’s Retina technology on MacBook and Thunderbolt displays.

Esri reports that Explorer for ArcGIS is one of many ready-to-use apps to access maps authored by users or others within their organizations, and share them from Macs or iOS devices. The app is designed for anyone who needs to explore data in a geographic context and use maps to make more informed decisions. With an elegant and intuitive interface, it requires no GIS experience to operate.

Anyone using a Mac desktop or iOS device can download and try the sample maps included in the app. ArcGIS Online subscribers, trial users, and those with a Portal for ArcGIS account can simply download the app, sign in, and begin exploring their maps and data. An Android version of the Explorer for ArcGIS app will be available in a later release.

July 11, 2014
Lehmann Aviation Tests LA300 Drone with Cameras

In 2013, Lehmann Aviation launched the LA300 — a fully automatic personal drone working with Nokia Lumia 1020 and Windows 8 Tablet and designed for mapping and DEM.

Flight tests in May have proven compatibility of the GoPro Hero3+ camera, in addition to Nokia Lumia 1020 41-Mp camera, with the LA300 for orthomosaics and digital elevation models (DEM), which makes this drone the an affordable and easy-to-use professional rugged solution for mapping and surveying, Lehmann Aviation said.

LA300 is a fully automatic professional UAV designed for accurate mapping and surveying. To get the geo-referenced orthomosaics or DEM, the user needs to take three simple steps (watch the video below):

Step 1: Download the free Lehmann Aviation software — Operation Center — to any Windows 8 Tablet, Windows Phone 8, or PC.
Step 2: Make the flight path by drawing on a touchscreen Windows 8 device the area of interest (on the map) and entering the waypoints, after which the software will automatically generate the mission.
Step 3: Transmit the data to the drone by Wi-Fi, launch it by hand, and wait until the aerial robot returns to any chosen point with HD images or video on the SD card.
Step 4: Use Operation Center to geotag each image after the flight, with LAT/LONG/ALT/YAW/PITCH/ROLL information.

The pictures then can be processed in any popular orthomosaic/DEM software to generate professional orthomosaics and 3D models.

The drone flies at a range of up to 15 km, at speeds of 20-80 km/h. It can be flown in harsh environments, between -25 °C up to +60 °C (-13 °F up to 140 °F), with winds up to 35 km/h (20kt). The LA300 weights 950 grams (including Nokia Lumia 1020 or GoPro Hero3+ camera), with a wingspan of 92 cm and the length of 45 cm. The drone is launched by hand and lands in a few meters of space.

All Lehmann Aviation drones come with one-year warranty and can be regularly upgraded to newer versions.

June 2, 2014
Avenza Releases MAPublisher 9.4 for Adobe Illustrator
Avenza Systems Inc., producers of the PDF Maps app for mobile and geospatial plugins for Adobe Creative Suite, including Geographic Imager for Adobe Photoshop, has released MAPublisher 9.4 for Adobe Illustrator. This latest update includes new features such as streamlined import, support for additional formats when exporting a document to web tiles, and a new image attribute type to support images imported from the PDF Maps app on both iOS and Android platforms.

“We’re excited to release MAPublisher 9.4 because of its continued evolution to make it even easier to create great looking maps with enhanced cartography tools,” said Ted Florence, President of Avenza. “The enhancements and features in this release have been developed from customer feedback with significant improvements to import and export interoperability. The primary focus of this release is to increase productivity for cartographers and GIS professionals by enabling them to easily and quickly import data, create high-quality map products, and easily publish or export to print and digital formats.”

Enhancements and new features of MAPublisher 9.4 include:
- Streamlined data import: Import (formerly Simple Import) and Multiple Data Import (formerly known as Advanced Import). Improved interface provides additional coordinate system information and easier access to format specific Adobe Illustrator options that affect how data is imported.
- New image attribute type to store an image for each record in a layer’s MAP Attribute table. Image attributes are supported when importing from the PDF Maps app (in KMZ format) and exporting to Google Earth (in KMZ format).
- Export Document to Web Tiles now supports MapBox and Tile Map Service map providers. A new anti-aliasing option to optimize art or type is now available.
- New ability to export a coordinate system file for non-geospatial image formats.
- New ability to specify grid constraints to limit the geographical extent of a Measured Grid. In addition, a new option is available for ticks to follow the line at the grid boundary.
- New file export option to assign metadata for TAB/MIF and KML/KMZ formats. The metadata assignment option allows layer attributes to be assigned to format specific metadata fields.
- Improved preview quality makes it easier to see how settings affect the scale bar.
- Newly designed MAP Layer icons and feature type icons.
- Various user interface and performance enhancements to improve usability.
MAPublisher for Adobe Illustrator is powerful map production software for creating cartographic-quality maps from GIS data. MAPublisher tools leverage the superior graphics design capabilities of Adobe Illustrator to manipulate GIS data and to produce high-quality maps with accuracy and efficiency.

MAPublisher 9.4 for Adobe Illustrator is available free of charge to all MAPublisher users with an active maintenance subscription and as an upgrade for non-maintenance users at US$599. New licenses start at US$1399. MAPublisher FME Auto and MAPublisher LabelPro are also available as add-ons to MAPublisher 9.4 at prices starting at US$399 per license. Academic, floating and volume pricing are also available. Prices include one year of full maintenance.
May 9, 2014
deCarta Expands L2 Geospatial Search to 120 Countries
deCarta, Inc., an independent LBS platform company, has expanded coverage of its advanced local search technology, the L2 Geospatial Search Engine, to 120 countries including Europe, North America, and most major countries around the world.

L2 is a high-performance, scalable local search engine with single line input to enable a more intuitive user interface, the company said. deCarta sources and indexes premium map and POI (Points of Interest) content but also enables customers to index and control their own content using the L2 Index tools.

deCarta’s L2 has advantages over most other search engines in that it can be used as a pure geocoder for address search, or for POI search….or simultaneously as a combination of the two mixed in a single line search query – with the additional ability to tune this behavior at runtime. This gives developers maximum flexibility and creativity in producing their mobile and desktop applications. The new expanded country coverage now enables deCarta customers to offer truly global services.

The L2 Search engine is an integral component of deCarta’s LBS platform which provides specialized geospatial technologies for maps, routing, navigation, geocoding, local search and geo-data integration and processing. deCarta offers two deployment models for its LBS platform: a Hosted LBS Platform Service (PaaS) or, alternatively, customers can self-host the platform either on-premise or in a cloud service such as Amazon’s AWS. Both approaches utilize deCarta’s advanced REST API architecture and can scale to support billions of maps and searches and millions of users per month.

L2 enables deCarta’s customers to offer flexible, advanced local search capabilities that are on par with Google Maps but beyond other search engines, deCarta said. Examples include:
- Single line entry of POI or address or both
- Fast typeahead, predictive entry – ideal for mobile devices and web interfaces
- High tolerance for misspellings and partial entries
- Random ordering of address parameters
- Search for a POI near a POI, such as:
  - “Coffee near XYZ company”
  - “Restaurants on Main Street”
  - “ATMs near AMC Theater”
- Search for POI near a specific address, such as “Parking near 1234 Main Street”
Furthermore, the ability to integrate L2 with deCarta’s patented “Search Along A Route” technology gives automotive OEMs and Telematics Service Providers the ability to offer more advanced and helpful “driver-centric” connected car services.

“We are excited by the market reaction to L2 since its introduction last year,” said J. Kim Fennell, CEO of deCarta. “We’re winning business competing with, and in some cases replacing, major local search engines such as Google Maps based on the merits of L2’s technology advantages, customization capabilities, flexible content offerings, less restrictive license terms and our superior customer service – all of which creates a more satisfied customer experience.”

deCarta offers a “house blend” of premium map and POI content with L2. It works closely with worldwide and regional map data providers including TomTom, Nokia/HERE, OpenStreetMap (OSM), AND, Sensis, IPC, Nav2 and eMapgo; as well as leading POI providers and other content sources (traffic, parking, weather, speed cameras, etc). deCarta integrates and de-duplicates multiple content sources for optimum search results.

deCarta provides the tools to let companies index and search on their own content for maximum control and commercial advantage. This content can stand alone or be merged with industry map and POI content. Customers can “boost” content and control rankings to suit their needs. These capabilities provide huge benefits for local search companies, Automotive OEMs and telematics service providers seeking to offer their users the best customer care and connected car services.

For more information on L2, please visit deCarta’s web site at www.decarta.com or go straight to the demo. Developers can find more technical details at deCarta’s DevZone.
May 1, 2014
GIS 2Go Allows for Offline Access to ArcGIS Maps from Tablets

Disy Informationssysteme GmbH, a provider of GIS and reporting solutions for spatial and non-spatial data, is offering a new app and service for offline maps for tablets.

GIS 2go allows users to save Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop maps to their tablets (iPad or Android). The GIS 2go add-in for ArcGIS Desktop supports data selection, map export and re-import via the cloud. With the app Cadenza Mobile GIS 2go installed on a tablet, users have immediate access to their maps, including all attribute data and media — even if they are offline in the field. Graphic notes and media created on the go can also be imported back into ArcGIS Desktop.

Users can interactively navigate on the map while on the go. Moreover, it is possible to show attribute data and use the graphic notebook to add points, lines and areas or track them via GPS. This information can be complemented with photos and audio/video recordings or text notes. Data captured on the go can be imported into ArcGIS Desktop and stored to the local database or file system.

How to save and use mobile maps on a tablet is described in 4 easy steps is at www.gis2go.com. The website also provides information on features and pricing, as well as tutorials and an FAQ.

A personal demo account is offered for interested users interesting in testing GIS 2go their mobile devices. The demo account is free of charge and without any obligation.

April 25, 2014
Esri Offers Interactive Map of Landslide Risk

Aerial photograph of the Oso mudslide, taken by the Washington State Patrol.

The March 22 mudslide in Oso, Washington, has drawn national attention to the danger of landslides. So far, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that 39 people had died and seven people remain missing.

Esri provides an interactive map for users to see where the risk of landslides is low, moderate, or high in the United States.

The map shows landslide suspectibility and incidence data from the USGS, which says this 1982 map was not intended to show landslide areas. Areas with low landslide incidence have been omitted.

Users can click any feature on the map for detailed information about the people living in that area.

April 16, 2014
Esri Offers Interactive Map of Landslide Risk

Aerial photograph of the Oso mudslide, taken by the Washington State Patrol.

The March 22 mudslide in Oso, Washington, has drawn national attention to the danger of landslides. So far, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that 39 people had died and seven people remain missing.

Esri provides an interactive map for users to see where the risk of landslides is low, moderate, or high in the United States.

The map shows landslide suspectibility and incidence data from the USGS, which says this 1982 map was not intended to show landslide areas. Areas with low landslide incidence have been omitted.

Users can click any feature on the map for detailed information about the people living in that area.

April 16, 2014
Report from GEOINT: The Search for Malaysia Flight 370

Day One Coverage

Today I attended the “GEOINT Forward” which is a pre-conference day consisting of over a dozen loosely related sessions. If there was a common theme it would have to be the increasing evolution of the GEOINT community toward Human Geography, Social Media, Big Data, Small Satellites and Chaos Management.

A most interesting keynote speaker was Dave Snowden (no relation to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden) founder and chief scientific officer of Cognitive Edge working to analyze complex issues relating to strategy and organizational decision making. He pioneered a science based analysis of organizations drawing on anthropology, neuroscience and complex adaptive systems theory. The key analysis tool they created is SensesMaker, a survey tool that extracts and organizes how respondents make sense of the world through micro-narratives in social settings. Using a patented method the respondent interprets their own story into a series of abstract constructs that feel more like a game than a survey, but allows profound meaning to emerge. This interpretation adds layers of meaning rather than simply interpreting the story and provides quantitative data which can always be linked back to the original material.

There were several sessions related to Chaos Management of disasters both natural and man-made. Dr. Shay Har-Noy of Digital Globe demonstrated TomNod (www.tomnod.com/nod/) which is a crowd sourcing effort of Digital Globe in which the public has access to thousands of images so that millions of eyes could help scour the imagery looking for signs of the missing aircraft. Once potential sites were indentified, experts could then focus their attention on the sites. Here is a short video clip of some examples. (Excuse the quality of the video, the room was dark, sound system poor and the built-in microphone less than ideal)

April 15, 2014
Scene Sharp USA to Unveil Fuze Go V2.0 Image Fusion Software at GEOINT

Scene Sharp USA will introduce Version 2.0 of its Fuze Go universal image fusion technology April 14-17, 2014, at the GEOINT 13* Symposium in Tampa, Florida. Scene Sharp will be hosted in Global Marketing Insights booth #2091 where it will demonstrate the new Fuze Go MS Sharp and Fuze Go SAR Sharp image fusion processing tools.

Scene Sharp is division of PraEis Ltd., a geospatially focused technology transfer organization with offices in Ohio and New Hampshire USA.

“Fuze Go is a fully automated technology that enables users to quickly and easily fuse data sets to add color to non-colorized satellite and aerial imagery with just a few mouse clicks,” said Scene Sharp CEO Ian Lucas. “By colorizing image data, GIS users can visualize and extract richer information content from remotely sensed data to make better informed decisions.”

In one simple step, the Fuze Go MS Sharp software fuses high-resolution panchromatic image data with lower-resolution multispectral data to generate a high-resolution color image. The full information content of the multispectral bands is retained in the fused image. More importantly, Fuze Go MS Sharp is the only fusion software capable of simultaneously merging up to 30 bands of multispectral data with a panchromatic image.

“Fuze Go MS Sharp runs at least five times faster and yields more consistent results than pan-sharpening applications that can only process four bands of data,” said Lucas. “As is true with the entire line of existing and planned Fuze Go products from Scene Sharp, no expertise in GIS or image processing is needed to use Fuze Go MS Sharp.”

As a universal image fusion tool, Fuze Go MS Sharp can handle data formats from any commercial image processing and enterprise GIS software packages. In cooperation with Exelis Inc., Scene Sharp created a Fuze Go MS Sharp plugin for the popular Exelis ENVI 5.0 and 5.1 image processing package.

“The plugin enables ENVI users to access the Fuze Go MS Sharp tool either within the ENVI workflow or outside of it so that fusion can be performed as a stand-alone application, freeing up the ENVI software license for other image processing activities,” said Lucas. “We are developing similar plugin capabilities for other major GIS and image processing packages.”

Fuze Go SAR Sharp was designed by Scene Sharp for more effective exploitation of data captured by satellite-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors. Fuze Go SAR Sharp fuses gray-scale radar data with optical multispectral bands to colorize the SAR data set. This image fusion presents the unique SAR data, which is captured through darkness and clouds, in a color context that greatly enhances the user’s ability to interpret the radar data and extract actionable intelligence from it.

Fuze Go MS Sharp and SAR Sharp are available for purchase for an annual license fee. Batch processing versions of the software packages are also offered to perform automatic fusion of multiple optical or SAR scenes.

“The ease of use and attractive pricing of Fuze Go software products make them far superior solutions to any other applications in the geospatial market today,” said Dr. Shawana Johnson, President of Global Marketing Insights. “With their seamless integration into existing image exploitation workflows, Fuze Go products can have immediate impacts in defense/intelligence, homeland security, mining, agriculture, forestry and oil & gas applications.”

April 11, 2014
Facebook Buys Virtual Reality Startup Occulus

Facebook has purchased Occulus, a virtual reality gaming startup, for $2 billion. “Today, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve joined forces with Facebook to create the best virtual reality platform in the world,” Occulus announced via a blog post.

“Facebook understands the potential for VR,” the blog said. “Mark [Zuckerberg] and his team share our vision for virtual reality’s potential to transform the way we learn, share, play, and communicate. Facebook is a company that believes that anything is possible with the right group of people, and we couldn’t agree more.”

Occulus demonstrated its most recent version of the Oculus Rift development kit at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, March 17-21. Occulus Rift is a virtual reality headset for 3D gaming.

The Oculus Rift DK2 prototype took home the award for Best in Show at January’s Consumer Electronics Show.

March 26, 2014
Facebook Buys Virtual Reality Startup Occulus

Facebook has purchased Occulus, a virtual reality gaming startup, for $2 billion. “Today, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve joined forces with Facebook to create the best virtual reality platform in the world,” Occulus announced via a blog post.

“Facebook understands the potential for VR,” the blog said. “Mark [Zuckerberg] and his team share our vision for virtual reality’s potential to transform the way we learn, share, play, and communicate. Facebook is a company that believes that anything is possible with the right group of people, and we couldn’t agree more.”

Occulus demonstrated its most recent version of the Oculus Rift development kit at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, March 17-21. Occulus Rift is a virtual reality headset for 3D gaming.

The Oculus Rift DK2 prototype took home the award for Best in Show at January’s Consumer Electronics Show.

March 26, 2014