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GIS Tech News (#110)

Autodesk Labs' Latest Preview Inspires Map 3D Users

A new software extension simplifies the process of searching spatial metadata on catalog servers.

By Cyrena Respini-Irwin

On January 5, Autodesk Labs launched a free technology preview of Project Inspire for AutoCAD Map 3D 2012. The project was developed in support of INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community), a 2007 directive to create a European Union spatial data infrastructure (SDI). According to the European Commission, "[The SDI] will enable the sharing of environmental spatial information among public-sector organizations and better facilitate public access to spatial information across Europe ... [and] assist in policy-making across boundaries."

Project Inspire is designed to help AutoCAD Map 3D users share INSPIRE-compliant data using a Catalog Service for the Web (CSW) interface. CSW is an Open Geospatial Consortium specification that defines interfaces for searching metadata. According to Autodesk, the result is that Map 3D users can more easily share spatial information, both locally and over the Internet.

Justin Lokitz, senior product manager of infrastructure modeling at Autodesk, explained that it's far more cost-effective for organizations to share existing data than to acquire it from scratch for every project. "INSPIRE is something of growing importance – more so now than ever," he stated. "Getting people to go out and capture information is really expensive."

Local Needs, Global Standards

INSPIRE's purpose, Lokitz explained, is to get the necessary standards in place so users can easily search and share data from many organizations — just as Google users can quickly sift through masses of information from a wide variety of sources. That's no small feat in a community as complex as the European Union, where data is being shared in more than 200 formats, said Lokitz. Read more »
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Cyrena Respini-Irwin is Cadalyst's senior editor.

Autodesk, Pitney Bowes Software Partner to Support Infrastructure Professionals

Under the new strategic relationship, the pair will provide solutions combining GIS, analytics, BIM, and asset management.

By Cadalyst Staff

Last week, Autodesk and Pitney Bowes Software — a subsidiary of Pitney Bowes Inc. that provides customer data, location intelligence, analytics, and communication software and services — entered into a strategic alliance agreement. The new agreement is intended to serve as a framework for both companies to provide resources, services, and solutions to help infrastructure owners and AEC organizations make better-informed decisions across the lifecycle of infrastructure. The relationship will enable the parties to provide infrastructure professionals in transportation, government, utilities, and other industries with coordinated solutions to help fully realize the value of project information, from planning and asset management to design, operations, and management.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pitney Bowes Software and Autodesk will join forces to address the needs of a global customer base. In addition, through coordinating the integration of existing applications, the duo will deliver solutions that address some of the more immediate business issues within a number of identified vertical markets. Read more »

Mark Your Calendar: GIS Events

International LIDAR Mapping Forum
January 23–25, 2012
Denver, Colorado
During the International LIDAR Mapping Forum (ILMF), speakers from the international light detection and ranging (LIDAR) community will report on latest technology advances and recent projects, highlighting actual experiences and lessons learned in aerial and bathymetric LIDAR with a focus on mobile mapping. Read more 

NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference 2012
May 14–17, 2012
San Jose, California
The third annual GPU Technology Conference will showcase breakthroughs in computational science with the GPU (graphics processing unit). Los Alamos National Laboratory's co-located Accelerated High Performance Computing (HPC) Symposium will move to the same week, as will the new InPar 2012 academic conference. Read more

Hexagon 2012 International Conference
June 4–7, 2012
Las Vegas, Nevada
Hexagon's second annual international conference will bring together users from Hexagon Metrology, Intergraph, ERDAS, Leica Geosystems, and NovAtel. the Hexagon 2012 agenda comprises hands-on training courses, interactive technology demonstrations and exhibits, and unlimited networking opportunities. Read more

For a complete list of CAD meetings, conferences, training sessions, and more, check out our calendar of events on Cadalyst.com. Are you hosting an event that you would like to include in our calendar? Submit details at least two weeks in advance to news@cadalyst.com.

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