The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) has developed the Geo-Referenced Area Management (GRAM++) as a low-cost alternative to commercial GIS packages. The software was originally funded in 1997 by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and has recently been promoted for projects by NGOs and other educational institutions. The fact that the software was developed locally, and is provided at low cost, is a primary selling point.

Bhugol GIS Pvt. Ltd. is the sole distributor of the software, and also works to customize the platform and provide solutions for their clients. The application is promoted for landuse change, environmental studies, and urban and rural development.

Read more background in this story in Indian Express.

In a ceremony yesterday, President Obama signed the Ominibus Public Land Management Act, which includes significant spending on mapping. In Obama’s words, the bill accomplishes many things:

“It designates more than 2 million acres across nine states as wilderness; almost as much as was designated over the past eight years combined.

It creates thousands of miles of new scenic, historic, and recreational trails, cares for our historic battlefields, strengthens our National Park System.

It safeguards more than 1,000 miles of our rivers, protects watersheds and cleans up polluted groundwater, defends our oceans and Great Lakes, and will revitalize our fisheries, returning fish to rivers that have not seen them in decades.

And it wisely faces our future challenges with regard to water. This bill assesses how growth and climate change will affect our access to water resources, especially in the West and Southwest, and it includes solutions to complex and long-simmering water disputes.”

I spoke to the founders of Safe Software, Don Murray and Dale Lutz, last week about FME 2009, the latest release of their data interoperability toolset. I’ve known these two for a long time, having enlisted their expertise for the Canadian GIS Conference as far back as 2001. I’ve always enjoyed their enthusiasm for their product, and the fun they have delving into the nuances of software formats and interoperability.

The motivations that they have for their work are compelling, as their products solve some very painful problems. For instance, say you’re a large utility that just bought another large utility, but all the details about your critical assets are stored on two different GIS systems that are incompatible. One of the major reasons for consolidating the two systems is that you’ll be able to combine operations and increase efficiencies, but the two entirely different systems are a barrier to reaching that goal. Here’s where Safe steps in and saves the day, helping to make both systems work together, and often rather quickly.

Need for Speed

But, it’s not just enough to solve the problem of format compatibility so that the least amount of information gets lost between software packages. To make a product that you’re proud of requires a commitment to all the details of your business. Outside of the relatively bounded niche of being the “Switzerland” of the geospatial community, providing a means for cooperation among competing software applications, Safe Software is also in the business of creating software.

To design truly customer friendly software, there are some basic rules to follow, such as being easy to use, being easy to maintain and upgrade, and not being a burden on your hardware. Safe has focused on a number of usability issues with their release of FME 2009. The company enhanced the user interface, added drag and drop capabilities to several of their tools, and have made a commitment to increase the speed of their application.

The issue of speed is an interesting one, and I asked Don why they chose to focus on that. He explained that he was at a non-GIS software conference where a vendor stated that every new release of their software must improve the speed of operation. Don went back and spoke to Dale about that, and they decided to subscribe to that same philosophy, simply because they thought they could pull it off. And as a result, the new release is in some places 20 percent faster and in others it is nearly 20 times faster. Given the massive amounts of geospatial data these days, these improvements are non-trivial. In some cases the enhancements save not just minutes but days of processing time.

Adapting to Enterprise Demands

Being in the software business also opens up a huge number of software industry trends that need to be monitored and addressed. The issue of operating system is an excellent example of Safe Software’s response to broader issues than just the different data formats of CAD and GIS tools. They also need to be able to run their tools on computers with different operating systems, from Windows and Linux, to UNIX, etc. In this latest release they added support for 64-bit Windows, Linux and Solaris for greater processing power.

Enterprise computing is another area where they’ve been responsive, debuting their Server products last year. The FME Server enables organizations with considerable spatial data holdings to transform their data on the fly and distribute it more widely. Server gives users the tools not just for translation and transformation, but also for validation and consolidation, and Web-based distribution. The services-oriented architecture of this solution opens up a whole wealth of possible configurations, including a foray into cloud computing through WeoGeo.

Continued 3D Development

Safe has recognized the need to support the transformation of 3D data types for a long time. One of their largest markets has been in CAD and GIS compatibility and now with Building Information Modeling coming into play, the need for better handling of model information is growing exponentially. The translation and transformation of 3D data poses some considerable technical challenges though.

Safe cracked these difficult problems last year with support for 3D PDF, IFC and LandXML. With this latest release, the company has added CityGML, Wavefront OBJ and Autodesk 3ds. With these formats supported, organizations can more readily extend the use of their 3D data. One client city — Apeldooorn, Netherlands — has already taken advantage of these capabilities to combine their GIS and CAD data to create a multi-user 3D virtual world online.

A popular topic in the press these days is whether a company or market sector is recession proof. I’d like to think that a company like Safe, that focuses strongly on the customer and innovates well ahead of their customer’s demands, fits that description. As the call for infrastructure spending heats up, there will certainly be ample opportunity to eliminate the pains of incompatible data.

You can read more about the FME 2009 release in both the Safe Insider corporate newsletter and in this fact sheet about What’s Great in FME 2009.

Forty years ago today, well-timed images of earth from the Apollo 8 crew served to provide much-needed perspective in a year that was dominated by global unrest. An editorial in today’s New York Times serves as a reminder of that time of optimism and wonder.

“To see the earth as it truly is,” wrote Archibald Macleish on Dec. 25, 1968, “small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold — brothers who know now they are truly brothers.”

In this time of year when we reflect on the plight of our fellow man, and reach out to each other in a spirit of giving and hope, it’s nice to be reminded of our commonality on the single and solitary spaceship earth. This past year saw a groundswell of sentiment and action toward more sustainable practices. My hope is that the next years see more action, with the aid of software and systems to aid our collective decision making.

You can view the original editorial here (PDF).

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) launched a new Carbon and Biodiversity atlas during the COP-14 climate conference in Poznan, Poland. The atlas was put together to demonstrate the use of spatial analysis to find areas that were both high in biodiversity and carbon. Most of these areas are in the developing world, which ties into the concept of reduced emissions from deforestation and degredation (REDD).

REDD suggests that developed countries should invest in protecting these areas to offset their own emissions, perhaps as part of carbon cap and trade programs. By combining carbon sinks with biodiversity, there’s the hope for a win-win situation that preserves biodiversity and the ecosystem services that the forest provides.

National-scale maps for six different countries show the spatial correlation of areas that are a high priority for biodiversity conservation as well as the areas with high carbon storage. The atlas is meant only as a demonstration that could be tuned and applied to smaller geographies for more in-depth analysis. The authors suggest that the addition of socio-economic data could help to illustrate how conservation investments would benefit local livelihoods.

View or download the report here (PDF).

There’s been a great deal of reporting today about Google.org’s new Google Flu Trends site. Google’s non-profit arm has teamed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to post a state-by-state analysis of flu-related word searches. Keyword searches used as a sensing mechanism of geographic trends is an exciting development that has some wide-ranging implications for public health issues.

The new site isn’t that compelling from a technology standpoint as it harnesses Google Trends, a service that’s been online for some time, including geographic targeted searching. The real-time nature of this new service is the most compelling aspect.  The CDC’s own data closely mirrors Google’s data, but there’s a two-week lag in the CDC reporting, whereas Google’s reports are real-time.

At present the site is simply at the state level. I’m hoping the detail gets more granular in order to have an impact on how we behave and respond to such viruses. Given the impending inevitability of another pandemic strain of the flu, this service provides a valuable means to augment other data sources. But, in the face of the panic of a pandemic, I wonder how accurate the search word accuracy would become.

This column is sponsored by ESRI

The increasing innovation of online mapping continues to amaze and surprise me, particularly this week after viewing many interactive maps dealing with the U.S. elections. Clever interfaces for map-based views push the interest in mapping, and expand the prospects for the entire geospatial industry. The elections also provide a high-profile opportunity for some spatial analysis.

The tools and interfaces for online mapping provide an opportunity for innovation from a far flung group of developers. Developers with geospatial backgrounds are pushing more professional capabilities online that extend the GIS publication and analysis capabilities of professional practitioners. There are also many developers without a geospatial background that provide a new perspective that often leads to exciting innovations. GIS software makers are opening up via standards, developer-focused APIs, and other means, and the increased openness is having a positive impact on available features and the creation of exciting visualizations.

While the innovation is at a fast and exciting pace, there are some areas that I’d like to accelerate in order to spread more intermediate and advanced geospatial capabilities to much broader audiences. As I contemplate the steps to make geospatial capabilities more useful and universal, I think it has less to do with new features and functionality, and more to do with creating intuitive and customized applications with a certain amount of wow factor.

Broadcasting Geo Reach

The business benefits of geospatial technology are well known to practitioners and a growing number of companies, but they’re still not immediately apparent. I’d love to see some more geographic education by those that make use of the technology in order to benefit their bottom line. Businesses have the means to impress their customers in terms of their operational scope and efficiency. One thought is to weave geospatial analysis as a means of outreach and media, similar to the weight put on podcasts and webcasts these days. Why not a geocast?

A geocast could illustrate innovative uses of geospatial tools as part of multimedia promotion of a company’s inner workings. The geocast would be an interesting element to most websites, particularly if it tells a strong story about the company’s mission, projects, distribution or customer base. For instance, wouldn’t it be great to view not only the sites of a company’s retail locations, but also distribution facilities, and the web of an organization’s suppliers? The level of detail need not be precise for information deemed proprietary, but the global reach of an organization could prove instructional.

For organizations interested in green, the local nature of their business might be of strong benefit for marketing. For organizations with strong international spread, their interests in developing markets could be promoted for their global citizenship. The geocast would take advantage of all the great geospatial data and visualization tools, and would help to advance development in sophisticated geospatial visualization.

Tracking with More Flash

I enjoy the capability to track the delivery schedule of packages that I’ve ordered, particularly with the holidays coming up. It would be great if there were a real-time routing and trace-back feature for all shipments that incorporated more of a map interface. I like the thought of being able to see a package leave a warehouse and make its way to my house, perhaps with an optional text alert as it’s nearing my door. This would be a critical feature for items requiring signature, and would improve the efficiency and customer service of commercial shippers.

More visual tracking would be a great way to illustrate the distance that goods travel, and the route that they take. The near real time tracking of the truck could add a fun sense of anticipation, particularly in the young. And it would be a great geography lesson too. I’d love to send an e-mail note to my neices and nephews that their package has been ordered and is on the way with a link that let’s them see it happen. I envision a little red line from my house to the supplier, and then a map and timeline showing their house and the progress of the package. It would provide a more meaningful sense that I’m thinking about them, and they’d get a chance to visually connect with my distant location. Grandparents would really eat up this idea.

Armchair Traveler

Travel is becoming more of a luxury these days, but the idea of visiting the far reaches of our world is even more compelling now in this age of globalization. I like to think about the workings of the world, and would enjoy a richer means to explore places of interest online. While the 3D immersive global exploration tools are moving forward in this regard, there’s considerable progress to be made to bring the sights and sounds of a location to life.

I enjoy collaborating with a far flung network of web workers, but I’d love to make more of a visceral connection to their location. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to share a better sense of your location, weather or local happening with those that you’ve come to call colleagues. The age of project based work that spans the globe is becoming all the more common, and there’s a learning opportunity about our world with every connection that we make. Just last week, a project had a temporary hold due to a festival in India. I would have loved to catch a glimpse of what that festival was like.

I’m excited by many different online advancements of late. The richness of the online experience is poised to become much more exciting and interactive. I’m hoping that a good deal of the excitement will revolve around geospatial visualization and spatial analysis tools that spread this functionality to a wider and wider audience.

Read what Jeff Thurston has to say on this topic here.

Given the spread of rural homesteads and the amount of resources, Australian firefighters would have a tough time responding to all the wildfires during the fire season, and research showed that panicked last-minute evacuations caused the most deaths, so the new policy became ’stay or go.’ This policy urges those that aren’t willing to battle blazes to leave their homes well before the fire threatens their property. Those that are willing to fight have been trained how to do so, and their property has a much greater chance for survival if they remain to fight.

This policy has shown great effectiveness in reducing the amount of lives lost and property damage, and it’s being discussed as a potential model for the United States. Read more about this approach to fire fighting in this story in the Los Angeles Times.

There’s a growing interest in highly accurate mapping, and a corresponding need for training about geodetic principles. I spoke recently to Patrick Cunningham, president of Blue Marble Geographics about these developments, and the expanding market for their tools and solutions for data quality management.

Blue Marble recently combined their Geographic Calculator and Geographic Transformer into one desktop product. They also rewrote their underlying software and the coordinate definition library to make it more comprehensive and flexible, and easier to integrate into data management workflows.

Blue Marble is concerned with highly accurate mapping, and the underlying data integrity issues that come from interoperability and data conversion, whether that data is raster, vector, LIDAR or something else. Their tools allow controls over the use of geodetic datums to ensure accuracy and coordinate control when transforming geospatial data. Geodetic datums define the size and shape of the Earth and the origin and orientation of the coordinate systems used to map it. New functionality within the Geographic Calculator allows users to create project envelopes with defined polygon extents, and specify the preferred datum for that area for workgroups working on the same project. This workspaces feature makes datum guidance available to all workers for enterprise collaboration and assured data quality.

Many of the user challenges revolve around workflows and having checks and balances on data quality— because there’s always a human component. In past iterations Geographic Calculator could be a bit of a loaded gun, with the ability for all users to define or alter the geographic definitions. If an individual user got the definition wrong, there could be costly mistakes for the entire project. The latest version limits access to data source, with an administrator making a view that deals only with the coordinates for a specific project. This brings checks and balances to the data workflow, assuring data quality.

Blue Marble is actively involved in the Open Geospatial Consortium’s data quality working group. Cunningham refers to this work as the womb to tomb geospatial data lifecycle. This group is concerned with providing software solutions to data quality issues.

While Blue Marble products are used often in academic coursework, there’s a growing interest in teaching the basics of coordinate systems and geodetics. Some academic programs are beginning to dedicate full courses to geodetics, because there’s a need to get the fundamentals straight, particularly when students are coming to mapping from so many diverse fields.

Blue Marble products are used by surveyors and GIS and engineering firms. Government at the federal and international levels also are good customers, with EU’s INSPIRE initiative driving a good deal of business. INSPIRE requires some normalization of coordinate systems, and the Geographic Calculator helps greatly where there are local coordinate systems that need to be converted to a standard, because it offers thousands of datum shifts and allows for custom definitions.

In addition to desktop products, Blue Marble also offers Software Developer Kits (SDK) for integration into other tools for customized applications. The three main SDKs that Blue Marble offers are GeoCalc, Geotranslate and GeoTransform. GeoCalc is the most widely used SDK, with broad adoption for seismic surveying software for oil and gas exploration.

There’s an increasing need for highly accurate mapping, and Blue Marble is pushing forward to expand their products beyond coordinate and geospatial data conversion to data quality management.

I’m a huge fan of NPR’s Science Friday program. I was listening today and heard an interview with Mark Brender, vice president of marketing and communications at GeoEye regarding the launch of the GeoEye-1 satellite.

He commented on advances in mapping, fielded questions regarding cost and image capture frequency, and in a comical moment, was asked about obtaining imagery of Area 51 that almost sounded like a planted question. You’ll have to listen to understand what I mean by that.

One interesting detail is that with the recently announced deal with Google, they’ll be pasting a Google logo on the outside of the launch vehicle.