Esri GPS Base Station Joins National Network

Redlands, California - Esri recently installed a GPS base station to assist its GIS developers and to support surveyors, engineers, scientists, and those in public works and public safety in the community surrounding the Esri campus in Redlands, California. The base station, named GISA, has been accepted by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) and incorporated into the national Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) network.

"GPS, originally designed as a US Department of Defense system, has become part of everyday life, with the technology in all types of devices from smartphones to shipping containers," said Brent Jones, Esri surveying and engineering industry manager. "The Esri GPS base station is a great benefit to the community, as professionals can use it in surveying and positioning to achieve accurate locations in real time."

Mounted on an Esri owned building in Redlands, GISA operates a Trimble NetR9, dual-frequency GPS/GNSS receiver with Zephyr Geodetic Model 2 antenna. GISA broadcasts real-time GPS/GNSS data on the Internet in industry standard Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) formats, which allows GPS users to obtain real-time centimeter positions. The City of Redlands allowed access to the Redlands Municipal Airport for testing of GISA. Allen Instruments and Supplies of Anaheim, California, performed a terrestrial laser scan of the GISA site to ensure that satellite signals would not be obstructed by the built and natural environment around the station.

GISA stores GPS and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals in data files on a secure Esri server accessible to the public via the Esri website gnss.esri.com.

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news

Esri Releases Free Business Analyst Online Mobile App for Android Smartphones

Retail and commercial real estate professionals using Android smartphones can now access demographic data anywhere with the Esri Business Analyst Online (BAO) application. The application is designed for anyone who needs access to population and consumer marketing data on the go.
The BAO application enables users to access up-to-date facts on demographics, lifestyle, and consumer spending for any region in the United States. With it, users can compare any address with another or with the county, state, or United States and analyze an area within one mile of a prospective location. Unlike traditional market research, users can quickly compare and contrast regional information with the regional average and show that data to clients in the field. Reports created in the mobile BAO application can also be e-mailed to share with a broader audience. More extensive data, capabilities, and reports are available through the application with a subscription to the BAO web application.
The BAO application is free and can be downloaded directly from Android Marketplace.
To learn more, visit esri.com/BAOapp.

TractBuilder Exhibiting at 2012 Esri Petroleum GIS Conference

The 2012 Esri Petroleum GIS Conference sets the stage for advancing geographic systems in the energy industry. Here you will learn from experienced speakers, technology specialists, and GIS users who will show you ways to increase the business value of your exploration analysis, land use management, well potential, facility siting, and business operations programs.

TractBuilder will be located in booth 605 and will be featuring its Tools for ArcGIS and launching its new Blink Server Product.  TractBuilder has been servicing the Oil & Gas sector for several years.  The TractBuilder toolset focuses on creating features based on legal descriptions in the most efficient manner possible.  The individual TractBuilder Tools are the Metes & Bounds Tool, Quartering Tool, Auto-Quartering Tool, Well Spotting Tool, and GridMaker.

“We’ve been to PUG in the past, just as attendees.  It has great presentations, the expo portion is good to see what the latest technology is, and if you want a place to network with GIS users from energy companies then PUG is the place to be.” – Kyle Souza, Sales Manager, TractBuilder

Pug will be from Monday, April 30th – Wednesday, May 2nd at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX.

Be sure to come by the TractBuilder Booth and see how you can benefit from using the most streamlined editing tools on the market!

TractBuilder is a GIS software and services company, based in Houston, TX.  TractBuilder is best known for its unique tools for mapping legal descriptions in ArcMap.  Using the TractBuilder Tools for ArcGIS users can efficiently map lines and polygons according to quartering/aliquot and metes & bounds descriptions.  TractBuilder also offers GIS drafting services, custom ArcGIS programming, and web portal design.  More information can be found at http://www.tractbuilder.com, or contact them at 1-866-95-TRACT or sales@tractbuilder.com.

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news

Esri, the Esri globe logo, GIS by Esri, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners.

Zonar and Esri Integration Provides Real-Time GIS Mapping of Fleet Data

Seattle, WA – A new integration between fleet telematics provider, Zonar and geographic information system (GIS) provider, Esri delivers real-time fleet data layered with sophisticated geographic map information. The resulting system helps companies determine capacity enhancements, improve fuel efficiency, optimize routes and share interactive transportation maps on the web.

Early adopters of this technology use the integration to:

Determine fuel efficiency rates of specific routes with elevation information in addition to longitude, latitude, speed, odometer and fuel usage data.
Track vehicle location and diagnostic data in real-time on a map containing company facility and asset locations, preferred fuel stops, maintenance and service locations, or customer delivery points.
Provide advanced operational awareness via the integration of real-time vehicle locations with traffic, weather, work orders, and any company-maintained GIS data.
Publish web-based maps displaying real-time locations or recent activity of snowplows and whether the vehicle is actively plowing, de-icing or spreading salt.
“Esri is a perfect complement for Zonar fleet data,” said Mike McQuade, Chief Technical Officer at Zonar. “Zonar tracks longitude, latitude, odometer, speed and fuel, in addition to vehicle diagnostics in our core platform. Esri allows display of fleet locations and other data specific to their operation integrated through Esri’s mapping technology.

“Our customers asked for the ability to easily integrate fleet data into their own GIS” said Wolfgang Hall, Business Development Manager for Tracking Solutions at Esri. “It is very exciting that we can now help our users by merging the two technologies. The ability to display and store Zonar’s detailed GPS location data inside GIS allows our users to leverage advanced spatial analysis and to publish the combined data to mobile units and the Web.

“Fuel efficiency is extremely important to our customers and the Zonar and Esri integration provides additional data sets including elevation to the fuel capture data Zonar provides,” adds McQuade. “In addition, private and public fleets are improving customer service by sharing interactive location maps and expected arrival information to customers over the Internet and mobile devices.”

Zonar helps public and private fleet managers improve CSA compliance, increase fleet efficiency and improve safety through an expansive set of inspection, diagnostic and GPS solutions. In 2001, Zonar released the patented Electronic Vehicle Inspection Report (EVIR®) system to automate and verify the pre- and post-trip inspection process and ensure compliance with state and federal law. Through a unique “Inspect, Track, Know” approach, Zonar also developed a series of telematics platforms that are used in a wide range of applications ranging from vehicle tracking to fuel authorization. Learn more about Zonar at www.zonarsystems.com.

Weyerhaeuser Solutions President to Speak at Esri

Redlands, California - April 02, 2012 - Marvin (Ray) Risco, president, Weyerhaeuser Solutions, Inc., and vice president, Weyerhaeuser Timberlands, will give the keynote presentation at the Esri Forestry GIS Conference at Esri headquarters in Redlands, California, on May 1, 2012.

Notable in the forestry industry for his contribution to global operational management, Risco will talk about how business and technology are changing because of new demands such as renewable energy and conservation. Weyerhaeuser Solutions is modifying business models and some of its tools to adjust to the changes in global trends.

"By taking a holistic approach, foresters can grow their forest-based products to include renewable energy and managing landscapes for water supply and quality," said Risco. "Foresters and land managers are making headway in their understanding of the value and location of these opportunities and sustainably maximizing acre returns. This Forestry GIS Conference is unique because it is specific to GIS and to foresters. I am looking forward to speaking with this important community about helping its executives and investors understand how Weyerhaeuser sees the future and its impact on forestlands and timber assets."

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest forest products companies, has been a longtime Esri customer. It has used ArcGIS for timber operations, land management, the development of its roads network, and forest planning.
Risco has more than two decades of experience operating international businesses in executive, general management, and financial roles. Currently, he is responsible for launching and leading the new Weyerhaeuser Solutions client-facing business focused on proprietary technical timberlands products, forestry consulting, alternative energy supply, implementation, and management services. He was responsible for Weyerhaeuser's international timberlands operations, including strategic direction setting, merger and acquisitions, and managing the international forest products operations. Prior to joining Weyerhaeuser in 1998, Risco worked with ARCO and Gillette in various US and international functions primarily focused in financial leadership roles.

The Esri Forestry GIS Conference will be held May 1–3, 2012. Hosted by the Esri Forestry Group, this conference will give forestry professionals from around the world the opportunity to learn from GIS experts and other foresters how to grow their systems for efficiency, value, and decision making. For more information, visit esri.com/forestry.com.

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news

Esri Geospatial Technology Promotes Local Food Systems in US

As part of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ongoing commitment to support local and regional food systems, it recently released the KYF2 Compass Map. The interactive, web-based map provides information about these food systems and is a component of the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass, announced by agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack and deputy secretary Kathleen Merrigan of the USDA. The map uses Esri’s geographic information system (GIS) technology and web map services designed and developed by VSolvit LLC.

USDA originally launched the KYF2 initiative in 2009 to help revitalize rural communities by identifying the resources needed to grow, market, and distribute local food. The KYF2 Compass Map was created to carry that momentum forward by providing the public with a way to access information about where food is grown and the availability of local markets.

“USDA has shown how legacy GIS content can be rapidly organized to benefit broad groups of constituents,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri president. “We are pleased that USDA has mapped local food systems and extended the use of government data to all stakeholders."

The KYF2 Compass Map is deployed using Esri Managed Services. Future plans include updating and adding new datasets and offering dynamic map views and map services. As the map evolves, it will ultimately benefit farmers, educators, businesses, and other organizations by aggregating many sources of data about local and regional food supply chains.

Part of the USDA mission is to help build a national dialog about local food systems. To promote this dialog, Esri supports the Twitter campaign around the Compass and encourages those Twitter users involved with local food projects to include the hashtag #KYF2 when referring to the KYF2 initiative and talking about the KYF Compass and map.

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

VSolvit LLC (pronounced "We-Solve-It") is a leading provider of geospatial and information technology consulting services and solutions to the government and the private sector. VSolvit was recognized as the USDA Woman Owned Business of the Year in June 2011. VSolvit’s SBA Certified 8(a)/SDB, 8(m)/WOSB status and availability of GSA schedules enables government agencies to have rapid access to geospatial expertise for geospatially enabling their organizations. Please visit us at www.vsolvit.com.

Esri and UNOSAT to Host Conference in April

The GIS for the United Nations and the International Community Conference will take place April 3–5, 2012, at the World Meteorological Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Esri and United Nations Institute for Training and Research's (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) organized the conference to demonstrate and discuss the role of GIS in global challenges. Attendees will consider how GIS can provide the analytic knowledge required to make better decisions on issues that are critical for the planet.

"In today's world, we face many global challenges brought on from natural and man-made events," says Jack Dangermond, Esri president. "From an office in Geneva to a refugee camp in Africa, GIS enables better collaboration and visualization and rapid dissemination of critical information when and where it's needed most. No matter the mission, geography is at the heart of a more resilient and sustainable future."

The aim of the conference is to bring together experts from the United Nations and other international and nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, and the private sector. During breakout sessions, panel discussions, and networking opportunities, they will learn how to best apply geographic information science to devise better responses to regional and global challenges.

"This conference is a good opportunity to take stock of geographic information technology and its benefits for the international community at large, especially for decision makers," says Francesco Pisano, manager of UNOSAT. "The more GIS is understood and adopted, the more our work as experts in satellite analysis will be useful and relevant. I am very pleased with the partnership with Esri."

The final day of the event includes a postconference workshop where attendees will learn how to extend the reach of their GIS using various free resources from Esri. The workshop includes presentations on implementation, resource topics, and demos from Esri staff as well as a hands-on exercise showing how to get started with ArcGIS Online.

Registration is by invitation only and will include humanitarian and development senior executives, practitioners, researchers, nonprofit consortia, and others. Those interested in applying to receive an invitation may do so on the conference website. To learn more, visit gisfortheun.com.

Esri Developer Summit Keynote Will Dispel Misconceptions about the Cloud

Steve Riley, technical leader, office of the chief technology officer (CTO) at Riverbed Technology, will provide the Keynote Address at this year's Esri Developer Summit. Riley's keynote, entitled In the Cloud, Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong, will seek to dispel myths and misunderstandings about the cloud and give a fresh perspective on geospatial development in decentralized data environments.
"For the 'digital native' generation, the cloud is the computer," says Riley. "There's no time for old-time lamentations about the good old days. To succeed today, you have to develop, manage, and secure for tomorrow."
Riley has more than 23 years of experience in information technology, with an emphasis on information security, local- and wide-area networks, and cloud computing. Before joining Riverbed, he worked at Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, where he specialized in information security, compliance, and policy. During that time, he traveled the world to speak at numerous telecommunications, information security, and Microsoft technical conferences.
The Esri Developer Summit will take place from March 26 to 29 at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. To register for the summit, visit esri.com/devsummit.
About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

Esri Wins 2012 IBM Beacon Award for Best Industry Solutions for Government

Redlands, California - March 01, 2012 - Esri was named winner of a 2012 IBM Beacon Award for Best Industry Solutions for Government in recognition of Esri Maps for IBM Cognos. This honor is awarded each year to a select number of IBM business partners to recognize information technology excellence, commitment to skills attainment, industry knowledge, and innovative solutions based on IBM technology and services.
"Esri shares IBM's vision for a smarter planet," said Esri president Jack Dangermond. "Esri Maps for IBM Cognos helps deliver that vision by integrating Esri maps and data into IBM Cognos Business Intelligence reports, providing powerful analytics capabilities."
The Beacon Awards are a central and vital element of IBM's business partner recognition program. Announced at the IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference (held this year in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States) and selected by leading industry influencers and IBM executives from among hundreds of nominations, IBM Beacon Awards recognize a small number of IBM business partners that have demonstrated business excellence in delivering IBM-based solutions resulting in client transformation and business growth. This year's awards recognized business partner achievements in 27 award categories.
"The IBM Beacon Awards were established more than a dozen years ago to recognize business partners globally for their excellence and innovative solutions based on IBM technology," said Mark Hennessy, general manager, IBM Global Business Partners & Midmarket. "Our winners are business partners that have delivered unique and innovative solutions that raise the standard for business excellence, bringing client value. We congratulate Esri on winning the Beacon Award for Best Industry Solutions for Government and demonstrating its ability to provide value by creating Esri Maps for IBM Cognos."
For more information about the IBM Beacon Awards, including information about winners and finalists, visit https://www304.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/ContentHandler/pw_com_prb_beacon.
To learn more about IBM PartnerWorld, a comprehensive program that offers marketing and sales resources, training, certification, and technical support to help create new revenue and market opportunities for IBM business partners, visit http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld. To find an IBM business partner with a particular set of skills, a technology reseller, or a consultant with industry expertise, visit the Business Partner Locator at https://www-304.ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/bplocator/search.jsp.

Esri ArcGIS Provides Quick and Easy Access to S-57 Data

Esri ArcGIS software can now be used to visualize S-57 data with the symbology that the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) requires. The IHO is an intergovernmental organization that supports safe navigation and protects the marine environment; S-57 is its electronic data transfer standard. The Esri S-57 Viewer can be downloaded at no cost; it allows users to quickly and easily display this data in electronic navigational charts (ENCs) with no data translation.
Esri S-57 Viewer is an add-on to ArcGIS for Desktop. The viewer allows users to

• Query and analyze S-57 datasets in a GIS-centric environment
• Overlay S-57 data with other mapping data, such as bathymetric, topographic, environmental, and satellite imagery layers
• Apply various IHO S-52 properties such as Color Scheme and Safety Contour Depth

Maritime data users can continue to leverage their investment in Esri technology by installing S‑57 Viewer to visualize and compare ENCs with their existing GIS data or data from other sources, such as ArcGIS Online. S-57 data can also be used in conjunction with specialized applications, like Esri Nautical Solution, which is used to produce and maintain ENCs and paper charts. Other navigational and nonnavigational products can be produced and shared including Digital Nautical Charts (DNC), Additional Military Layers (AML), Marine Information Overlays (MIO), inland ENCs, and other maritime information products. For more information, visit esri.com/s57.

Esri Selects Winners of ArcGIS Online Grant Program for Educators

Esri has awarded five grants to select university and college faculty members to create exemplary higher education course materials and implementations of ArcGIS Online. Grantees receive $10,000 (US) each, as well as assistance from curriculum development specialists on Esri's education solutions team.
ArcGIS Online is a cloud-based geospatial platform that enables individuals to create and share maps, apps, and map services. Later this year, Esri will introduce new features to ArcGIS Online, providing enhanced mapping and data sharing capabilities to support collaboration within an organization. Esri will include ArcGIS Online subscriptions in its educational site licenses at no extra cost.
"Our goal is to help early adopters demonstrate the potential of the ArcGIS Online platform to support spatial thinking and learning across the curriculum," says David DiBiase, director of Esri's education solutions team. "We believe this new platform will enable hundreds of thousands more students worldwide to experience the power of GIS."
The grant winners and their projects are as follows:

• Mark Lindberg, Len Kne, and their colleagues at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN) will evaluate how the software can be used to support teaching, research, and enterprise services across a large land grant university.
• Dr. Fred L. Miller and colleagues at Murray State University (Murray, KY) will develop and deploy business GIS exercises for marketing majors.
• Dr. Christopher Bone at the University of Oregon (Eugene, OR) will use the software as a platform for a new introductory course, entitled Our Digital Earth, to expose students to the geospatial data and technologies found in their daily lives.
• Ken Yanow at Southwestern College (Chula Vista, CA) will create a series of assignments for a suite of general education courses that will enroll a diverse population of 2,000 students per year.
• Dr. Eui-kyung Shin at Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL) will develop geographic curriculum materials that enhance spatial thinking and active learning for elementary preservice teachers.

Grantees will present their preliminary results during the 2012 Esri Education GIS Conference in San Diego, California, and implement them on campus during the 2012–13 academic year.
About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide, including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

Esri to Demo Operations Dashboard at TechAdvantage

Redlands, California - February 27, 2012 - Union Power Cooperative of North Carolina will join Esri at the upcoming TechAdvantage Conference & Expo to demonstrate its operations dashboard—a comprehensive view of the electric distribution network that merges data from throughout the company into one real-time map.

TechAdvantage, an event that attracts professionals from electric cooperative engineering, energy services, operations, information technology, purchasing, and supply management, will be held March 6–9, 2012, in San Diego, California.

"We have taken the Electric Distribution Operations Dashboard template from Esri and made it work for us," said Todd Harrington, GIS administrator for Union Power Cooperative. "We learned that the dashboard provided more information to our employees and was much faster and easier to use than our existing digital maps."

Within the first week of implementing the dashboard, the utility recovered more than $3,000 lost to meter tampering. Operators also report a considerable savings in time since personnel are no longer tied up with the tasks of extracting data, cleaning it up, and producing maps.

Attendees of TechAdvantage can visit Esri at booth #1439 and connect with Union Power Cooperative by attending the paper session Tying It all Together, on Thursday, March 8, at 8:00 a.m.

About Esri

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

Esri Press Publishes Collection of Geospatial Lessons for Universities

Redlands, California - SpatiaLABS from Esri Press are independent computer lab activities that introduce, enhance, and reinforce spatial reasoning and analytic skills that apply to a variety of disciplines. Students working with SpatiaLABS use mapping technology and visualization tools, including Esri's ArcGIS software, to solve real-world problems.
The unique lab activities focus on teaching students how to approach a spatial problem rather than the mechanics of geospatial tools. Covering a broad range of subjects, SpatiaLABS include more than 50 titles such as Forest Planning for Sensitive Wildlife Species, Impacts of Sea Level Rise and Storms on Manhattan, Predicting West Nile Virus Outbreaks, and Customer Profiling: Demographic and Lifestyle Segmentation.
"I introduced all the topics from the [SpatiaLABS] description list to the class and then let the students pick the material they were interested in. I was intrigued with how devoted students became to doing these labs and how hard they were willing to work to discover the meaning of the information," says Dave Skiles, GIS program coordinator, Front Range Community College.
Delivered on DVD, the labs are provided in editable file formats to allow educators to customize each lab for their specific courses or include local data if desired. The level of difficulty and time to complete each lab varies, providing a range of materials instructors can use to accommodate students with different abilities and interests.
SpatiaLABS are available for an annual site license fee. To learn more and to order, visit esri.com/spatialabs or call 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, visit esri.com/distributors to contact your local Esri distributor.
About Esri Press
Esri Press publishes books on GIS, cartography, and related topics. The complete selection of GIS titles from Esri Press can be found on the web at esri.com/esripress.
About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide, including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

LizardTech Exhibits at Esri Federal GIS Conference and Reflects on 20 Years in Business

LizardTech^®, a provider of software solutions for managing and distributing geospatial content, is exhibiting this week at the 2012 Esri Federal GIS Conference in Washington, D.C. in booth #401. This year the company celebrates its 20^th anniversary, a milestone that is both exciting and reassuring.
Founded in 1992, LizardTech pioneered the MrSID^® file format, which became the de facto standard among the geospatial community. Before MrSID came along, dealing with geospatial imagery required specialized workstations, since datasets that were hundreds of megabytes in size were completely unwieldy, and imagery resolution was in the tens of meters. Imagery was practically unusable. The introduction of the MrSID format in 1992, which compressed georeferenced image data at high ratios without sacrificing the visual quality of the image, opened up the field of geospatial image use.
“I think the key to our success is that we listen to our customers and provide quality software that’s in demand,” said Jon Skiffington, director of product management. “At the end of the day it’s all about what our customers want and need, and developing a file format that’s been accepted by the majority of the geospatial community is the greatest achievement of all.”
At the Esri Federal GIS Conference Skiffington will be on hand to answer any questions pertaining to the history of the company. He will also be conducting demonstrations of GeoExpress^® software, which enables geospatial professionals to compress and manipulate satellite and aerial imagery,Express Server^® software for high-performance delivery and publication, and LiDAR Compressor^™software, which turns giant point cloud datasets into efficient MrSID files.
For more information about LizardTech’s geospatial software products, visit www.lizardtech.com
About LizardTech
Since 1992, LizardTech has delivered state-of-the-art software products for managing and distributing massive, high-resolution geospatial data such as aerial and satellite imagery and LiDAR data. LizardTech pioneered the MrSID technology, a powerful wavelet-based image encoder, viewer, and file format. LizardTech has offices in Seattle, Denver, London and Tokyo. For more information about LizardTech, visit www.lizardtech.com.
About Celartem
Celartem Technology Inc. http://www.celartem.com/ develops and sells innovative technologies for storage, access and distribution of rich media content. Celartem has developed technology in the areas of digital image compression, scalable image viewing and secure content distribution and management. Celartem is listed on the Osaka Securities Exchange, JASDAQ: 4330. Established in 1996, Celartem is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has a wholly owned subsidiary, Celartem Inc. d.b.a. LizardTech with headquarters in Portland, Oregon

Esri Announces Keynote Speakers for Federal GIS Conference

Redlands, California - Deputy secretary of the US Department of the Interior David J. Hayes and US Department of Agriculture chief information officer Christopher L. Smith will give keynote addresses at the Esri Federal GIS Conference February 22–24 in Washington, DC. This event will bring together over 2,700 federal government professionals who use Esri's geographic information system (GIS) technology in nearly every agency.
The conference will also feature insights from Esri president Jack Dangermond, demonstrations of the latest features of Esri's ArcGIS 10.1 software, and over 100 sessions exploring how GIS supports critical government initiatives such as transparency and sustainability. Specialized technical sessions will be offered for web and mobile application developers.
"This is an excellent opportunity to see what your colleagues are doing, gain technical expertise, make new contacts, and learn about key issues such as cloud-based GIS," says Christopher Thomas, Esri director of government markets.
Federal employees attend at no charge. To view the full agenda and register, visit esri.com/fedcon.
About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

Esri Announces Major Upgrade to Educational Site License Program

This year, Esri is rolling out a number of significant, free upgrades to its popular Educational Site License Program. The additional software applications and data enhance an already comprehensive GIS suite and provide new solutions for educators who wish to share the power of spatial thinking across their curricula.
Already added to the site license program this year are the mapping and charting solutions that improve cartographic production including Esri Nautical Solution, Esri Aeronautical Solution, Esri Defense Solution, and Esri Production Mapping. Also added are the ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension, which facilitates data sharing, and Esri Community Analyst, a web-based solution for domestic planning and policy analysis.
Future additions will include subscriptions to ArcGIS Online, a cloud-based system for creating and sharing geospatial content; new workflow-oriented Virtual Campus courses; Esri CityEngine, used for advanced 3D modeling and urban planning; and Esri demographic and Tapestry data for the United States.
"This is the most substantial upgrade in the 20-year history of our Educational Site License Program," says David DiBiase, Esri's director of education for industry solutions. "It reflects Esri's commitment to the success of educators at all levels in their efforts to cultivate the next generation of GIS users and a geospatially literate citizenry."
Staff members from Esri's Education Program team will be on hand to discuss this historic upgrade at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers. Some additions to the Educational Site License Program may be available only to US institutions. Educators in countries outside the United States should contact their local Esri distributor for details.
About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in geographic information system (GIS) technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide, including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

3D Forests Show the Way for Sustainable Future

State-of-the-art GIS technology which can create highly detailed 3D maps of entire forests is set to overhaul Australia’s $2.5 billion forestry industry, according to one of the nation’s leading spatial professionals.

The technology, from location intelligence specialists Esri Australia, was on display at SilviLaser 2011, an annual showcase of LiDAR, or light detection and ranging, technology and its applications in forestry.

Esri Australia Senior Consultant Gordon Sumerling, who presented on LiDAR at Ozri 2011 last week, said new advances in GIS technology would ensure Australia’s commercial forests remain sustainable and renewable, and are managed in line with the world's highest environmental standards.

“Forestry is a vital industry in Australia, which has a total forested area of around 150 million hectares – which covers around 21% of our continent,” Mr Sumerling said.

“GIS, when combined with traditional technologies such as LiDAR, can vastly improve critical industry tasks such as assessing forest health, calculating biomass, and identifying drainage patterns and terrain types.

“The 3D maps generated by GIS can enable users to see intricate forest detail such as where and how dense various canopy layers are, and the characteristics of ground level biomass.

“The images also provide a detailed view of topographical changes, which will save an enormous amount of time in terms of hauling loads and positioning machinery.

“This level of insight will be critical in the ongoing sustainable management of our forests.”

LIDAR uses light beams fired from a plane to measure tree and canopy height and terrain.

Mr Sumerling said the Esri Australia’s GIS technology – particularly the soon-to-be-released ArcGIS 10.1 software – transformed raw LiDAR data into 3D maps of the landscape that provided significantly more detail than traditional aerial photographs.

“Aerial photographs only provide views of the actual tree tops, whereas LiDAR can penetrate those and other layers down to the forest floor,” Mr Sumerling said.

“However, in the past LiDAR could only produce simple, 2D images that were mostly useful only to highly trained technicians.

“GIS technology combines multiple 2D LiDAR images and creates highly detailed 3D maps that provide an extremely accurate picture of what forests actually look like – right down to the level of rocks and shrubs on the forest floor.

“This allows non-technical users to get an understanding of the forest floor and tree and canopy heights over vast areas, streamlining decision-making processes while also making them more accurate and informed.”

Mr Sumerling said SilviLaser 2011 was the first time the ArcGIS 10.1 LiDAR applications had been exhibited to Australia’s forestry industry.

“Senior forestry figures have been genuinely amazed by the 3D maps this technology is producing and how it has transformed relatively indecipherable raw data,” Mr Sumerling said.

“They can see the potential this technology has in the industry to revolutionise critical forestry management activities such as biodiversity, fertilisation, harvesting, cultural heritage and development.”

“It’s a very exciting time for Australia’s forestry industry.”

About Esri Australia
Esri Australia has a 33 year history of providing location intelligence and data mapping solutions that help organisations make smart business decisions. The combination of local expertise and world-leading Esri GIS technology has helped thousands of government departments and commercial organisations to turn their data, information and knowledge into collective insight to reveal opportunity.  
About GIS


Geographic Information Systems are a key piece of technology used in thousands of organisations Australia-wide from the military and government, to the insurance and mining sector. Australia’s GIS industry currently stands at over $2.1 billion and morethan 300,000 organisations across the world use Esri GIS.

Middle Tennessee Natural Gas Utility District Maps, Manages Network with Esri ArcGIS

Redlands, California - October 10, 2011 - The Middle Tennessee Natural Gas Utility District is taking advantage of the Esri Small Utility Enterprise License Agreement (SU-ELA) program to obtain ArcGIS technology for mapping and managing its underground network. The Middle Tennessee Natural Gas Utility District serves more than 55,000 customers in 21 counties of the state's rural middle region.
"ArcGIS provides the ability to efficiently and accurately map our natural gas system, and gives us detailed basemaps," said Sean Flatt, GIS mapping coordinator at Middle Tennessee Natural Gas Utility District. "Also, all of our personnel now have access to an internal web mapping application, using the ArcGIS API for Flex, which provides maps of our system and allows basic GIS tools and functionality."
ArcGIS is now deployed throughout several departments in the utility, including planning, construction, and engineering. Utility operators are relying on ArcGIS capabilities to perform ad hoc analysis of many company-wide objectives.
In the coming year, Middle Tennessee Natural Gas plans to expand its ArcGIS technology into mobile applications using ArcGIS for iOS. This app will provide field access to maps and data and will enable field-based reporting and data collection for yearly system maintenance projects. Operators in the utility home office will be able to monitor the progress of projects, and updates will no longer require manual entry into the database.
"The Esri small utility ELA has helped our GIS program take a huge leap forward," said Flatt. "With the ability to use the full ArcGIS system, we have been able to not only investigate but actually implement many products that we would have previously not even considered. The ELA makes it possible to let even the most occasional user have access to ArcGIS software."
Esri's SU-ELA program is open to utilities with 100,000 meters or fewer. Through the program, these small utilities receive unlimited deployments of ArcGIS software, as well as maintenance and support for products, staff training, passes to the Esri International User Conference, and Esri data models.
For more information on the Small Utility ELA program, including a webcast and podcast, visit esri.com/suela. To speak to an expert, call 800-447-9778, extension 2990.

About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.

Esri to Demonstrate Its Geospatial Technology at GEOINT 2011

Defense, intelligence, and national security professionals will get the opportunity to watch demonstrations of Esri's complete geospatial system for intelligence at the GEOINT 2011 Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, next week.

The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation hosts GEOINT, which will be held

October 16–19, 2011, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

ArcGIS technology from Esri turns intelligence data into geographic knowledge that informs decision making for a wide range of missions. ArcGIS is a system for working with maps and geographic information that agencies use to fuse, analyze, visualize, exploit, and disseminate complex intelligence data.

"Esri's geospatial technology is uniquely qualified to handle many forms of intelligence such as data from satellite imagery and information collected using handheld devices," said Jack Dangermond, Esri president. "When analyzed and displayed using ArcGIS, subtle geographic patterns emerge from the intelligence that would otherwise be difficult to detect."

ArcGIS is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant system designed and engineered with interoperability in mind. It can be used on a variety of technology platforms including mobile devices, desktops, servers, and web browsers.

During GEOINT, Esri will demonstrate Portal for ArcGIS, a repository for geospatial content that operates behind a secure firewall or in a private cloud. It's similar to Esri's publicly available ArcGIS Online, the cloud-based geospatial content management system for storing and managing maps, data, and other geospatial information.

Portal for ArcGIS lets you access maps, templates, workflows, datasets, services, tools, and other geospatial content. You can also use the resources in the portal to create and share maps that others can access through a variety of platforms, such as mobile devices or custom applications.

"Portal for ArcGIS provides the same collaboration and sharing tools as ArcGIS Online but in a secure environment," Dangermond said. "Users inside an organization can quickly access the authoritative content and create intelligent maps and apps using templates and web mapping APIs."

Esri will be at booth #539. Stop by for briefings and demonstrations on how to

• Manage, visualize, analyze, and distribute geospatial intelligence using Esri's complete, open OGC-compliant enterprise geospatial system.
• Use ArcGIS to seamlessly process and incorporate imagery as an integral part of the geospatial enterprise.
• Exploit the latest in cloud, mobile, server, desktop, and online capabilities.
• Work with robust geospatial tools to manage and analyze data for field operations and situational awareness.
• Use ArcGIS technology to support Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response (HADR) operations launched after hurricanes, major earthquakes, and other natural disasters.
• Learn how ArcGIS technology provides a powerful analytic platform for understanding human geography.

GEOINT is considered the premier geospatial intelligence conference in the United States. The symposium drew more than 4,000 attendees last year.

Visit esri.com/intelligence to learn more about GIS in defense and intelligence.

About Esri

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS technology, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at esri.com/news.