Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Two Poems to Usher in 2010

Pardon me as I post something non-geospatial to end 2009 and begin 2010. To me, these poems are insightful on why it is important check ourselves every so often to make sure we have our priorities in order. Happy New Year.

THE WAYS
But to every man there openeth,
A way, and way, and away,
A high soul climbs the highway,
And the low soul gropes the low,
And in between on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.

But to every man there openeth,
A high way and a low,
And every mind decideth,
The way his soul shall go.

-John Oxenham

THE WINDS OF FATE
One ship sails East,
And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
'Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That tells the way we go.

Like the winds of the sea
Are the waves of time,
As we journey along through life,
'Tis the set of the soul,
That determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Thursday, December 17, 2009

What is LPS eATE?

LPS eATE is an add-on module to LPS for automatically extracting terrain from stereo optical imagery. The difference between LPS eATE and LPS ATE is the precision and accuracy of LPS eATE is much higher than LPS ATE, requiring less manual editing after the automatic processing is complete.

LPS eATE is a scalable tool, scaling from parallel processing using multiple cores on a single system, to distributed processing using multiple cores on multiple systems on your network.

Because of the processing power and the new algorithms a highly dense point cloud (matching on almost every point in the stereo coverage), can be output.

LPS eATE is being released soon to customers as a technology preview. If you have collected elevation points using optical imagery in the past, you will want to test-drive LPS eATE. (And ERDAS would like your feedback on your test drive.)

Monday, December 14, 2009

ERDAS APOLLO Benchmarks with Open Source Image Servers

Chris Tweedie, and ERDAS employee did some image server benchmarking on his own time. The results indicate ERDAS APOLLO is as strong in the image server world as its name indicates.

Chris' tests are an extension to the initial OGC Web Map Service raster benchmarks conducted at FOSS4g 2009 in Sydney. Unfortunately ERDAS were unable to participate. Chris took in upon himself to not only run the same suite of tests but expand and test on a completely different platform.

Have a heavy image server load to lift, you owe it to yourself to have a look. http://blog.webmapper.com.au/image-server-benchmark/

ERDAS Announces Joel Campbell as new President

ERDAS, Inc. just released this to the press:

ERDAS Announces Joel Campbell as new President

Norcross, GA — ERDAS Inc. is pleased to announce that industry veteran Joel Campbell will join the management team as the new President in January 2010, reporting to the ERDAS Board of Directors.

Mr. Campbell is well known and highly regarded throughout the geospatial industry, where he has been a featured speaker, lecturer and trainer for many geospatial organizations around the world. He has over 20 years of experience in the geospatial industry, in a variety of senior roles including sales, business development and product management. His previous employers include GeoEye, Definiens, EarthData and ESRI, along with operating his own consulting firm.

Most recently, Campbell was the Senior Director of Product Management for GeoEye, where he helped manage the company’s expansion into new commercial markets and supported the launch of products from the recently launched GeoEye-1 earth imaging satellite. During more than a decade with ESRI, he held chief leadership and management positions in the U.S. sales operation. These included Director of U.S. Sales, supervising regional offices and several hundred staff members, as well as expanding the company’s presence in the Washington D.C. area.

“Joel brings invaluable experience to ERDAS.” said Juergen Dold, President, Geospatial Solutions Division, Hexagon “We are pleased that he will be joining the management team, where he can apply his diverse experience across the geospatial value chain from capture to delivery.”

“ERDAS offers a compelling suite of products to the geospatial community, providing the world’s most respected desktop remote sensing and photogrammetry solutions, complimented with innovative enterprise solutions,” said Campbell. “I am thrilled to join the management team as we continue to focus on serving the full spectrum of our customers’ needs.”


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My comment: Joel met with the ERDAS employees last week for a question and answer session. My fellow ERDAS employees (and I) are excited about Joel becoming an Erdasian. Welcome aboard Joel!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

ERDAS IMAGINE 2010 available for download...

Customers may download ERDAS IMAGINE 2010 by going to the ERDAS IMAGINE Product page Download tab: http://www.erdas.com/products/ERDASIMAGINE/ERDASIMAGINE/Downloads.aspx

The "ERDAS IMAGINE 2010 What's New" and "Increasing Workflow Efficiency with ERDAS IMAGINE 2010" documents found in the Product Literature tab should be very beneficial.

ERDAS IMAGINE 2010 is supported on the following platforms:
Windows XP Professional x32 and x64 SP3 or higher
Windows Vista x32 and x64 SP2 or higher, Business, Enterprise & Ultimate
Windows 7 x32 and x64 Professional & Ultimate
Windows Server 2008 x32 and x64 SP2 or higher

Note: Microsoft Windows XP x32 has limited large output file sizes. The maximum file size depends upon system configuration and rarely exceeds 70GB. All other supported OS versions do not experience this limitation.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Signed, Sealed and Delivered: ERDAS 2010 Software Release Now Available

ERDAS, Inc. Press Release.....

Norcross, GA – ERDAS Inc. announces the availability of the ERDAS 2010 annual software release, which includes new and updated versions of ERDAS’ products to author, manage, connect and deliver geospatial information.

The ERDAS 2010 Software includes new versions of ERDAS IMAGINE, LPS, ERDAS ER Mapper, ERDAS Extensions for ArcGIS, ERDAS ADE, ERDAS APOLLO and ERDAS TITAN Client. In addition, ERDAS is introducing several new products, including IMAGINE Feature Interoperability and IMAGINE SAR Interferometry, as well as a technology preview of a new automated terrain extraction capability in LPS eATE. Product downloads, collateral and licensing information are available on the ERDAS website. Media kits will begin shipping later this month to software maintenance customers.

“The ERDAS 2010 software is a significant release, bringing remarkable productivity, performance, interoperability and value to geospatial users throughout the industry,” said Mladen Stojic, Senior Vice President, Product Management and Marketing, ERDAS. “ERDAS 2010 caters to the needs of our users worldwide. This release provides a renaissance in the usability of ERDAS IMAGINE through the new ribbon interface, parallel processing support and a fully integrated enterprise geoprocessing offering based on the OGC WPS specification.”

ERDAS IMAGINE 2010 is an all in one, fully integrated desktop authoring platform, incorporating image analysis, remote sensing and GIS capabilities. Featuring a new ribbon interface, ERDAS IMAGINE makes it easier for users to streamline workflows and customize their workspace. ERDAS IMAGINE also provides enhanced tools for parallel batch processing, spatial modeling, map production, mosaicking and change detection.

LPS 2010 is a powerful softcopy photogrammetry system for a variety of workflows, including defense, remote-area mapping, transportation planning, orthophoto production (for basemap generation) and close-range applications. LPS eATE enables users to generate high-resolution terrain information from stereo imagery like never before, ensuring speed and accuracy, providing an unparalleled environment for processing terrain data from airborne and satellite sensors.

ERDAS APOLLO 2010 is equipped to fully understand, competently manage and rapidly serve large volumes of vector, raster and terrain data. ERDAS APOLLO implements an out-of-the box Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), that provides a publish, find and bind workflow for any data type. Integrating ERDAS Image Web Server and ERDAS TITAN, ERDAS APOLLO is now available in three tiers to cater to any organization’s management, collaboration and delivery needs. From a low-cost, remarkably fast image and feature server to a comprehensive data management and on demand geoprocessing system, ERDAS APOLLO provides unprecedented performance, even when handling the largest data archives.

To learn more about ERDAS 2010 Software, please call +1 770 776 3400, toll free +1 877 GO ERDAS, or visit www.erdas.com.