Fredericton, NB, Canada – July 18, – CARIS, the world's leading marine GIS organization, has released its first open source API. CARIS OSCAR-js, a JavaScript Map API, allows you to create and embed custom web maps on your website.

The API was created to help shape CARIS Spatial Fusion Enterprise and includes tools for navigation, measurement, and download, as well as providing a means for developers to create their own custom tools and extensions. OSCAR-js extends the very popular OpenLayers library and utilizes jQueryUI and YUI to help create a feature rich mapping experience.

The API is designed around the creation of map themes. Map themes consist of thematic maps along with optional functionality such as selection, data download or more. OSCAR-js supports the use of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web services including Web Map Service (WMS), Web Map Tile Service (WMTS), Web Feature Service (WFS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) for creating these map themes.

In addition to supporting OGC web services, OSCAR-js can connect to CARIS Spatial Fusion Viewer to load map configurations. This allows for centralized site management for your web map infrastructure.

The source code for the API is available on GitHub under the Apache License 2.0. This will enable the development community to make their own development branches for customization or as a way to contribute code to the project. Building your own distribution is done easily using Maven 3.
 

To get started, visit the OSCAR-js website. Users will find helpful API documentation, code examples, as well as a blog to hear the latest information about OSCAR-js.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EMERGING GOVERNMENT REBUILDS ECONOMY WITH GROUNDBREAKING SOFTWARE

ANACLA, BAMFIELD, BC – On April 1, the Huu-ay-aht First Nations celebrated the first anniversary of their return to self-governance and the management of their own lands. “The first year has been overwhelming, but we will persevere in these proudest of times for our people.” said Larry Johnson, Director of Lands and Natural Resources for the Huu-ay-aht.

“Managing our Lands and Natural Resources is a vital part of creating a better life for present and future Huu-ay-aht citizens” says Johnson. When faced with the choices of how to manage their reclaimed traditional lands, the Huu-ay-aht chose to develop a web-based land registry system unlike anything else ever produced.

Larry continues, “We worked with CloverPoint in Victoria to build the Land Registry, a system specifically designed to meet the needs of emerging governments.“

The Huu-ay-aht want to share the story of their journey to self-governance with the hope that they can inform and inspire other First Peoples to unlock their lands and build a bright future for generations to come.

CloverPoint is a leading international developer of 2D&3D computer mapping software. The CloverPoint team redefines what is possible on the web by pushing the boundaries of current technologies to develop innovative solutions for diverse clients.

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The E-Government project «geo.admin.ch» has achieved the 2^nd place in the United Nations Public Service Award in the category of “Advancing Knowledge Management in Government”. A Swiss delegation accepted the «United Nations Public Service Award», in New York under the attendance of the President of the General Assembly, the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and high-level government officials from around the world.

geo.admin.ch has won the 2^nd place in the United Nations Public Service Award in the category of “Advancing Knowledge Management in Government”. With its outstanding services as a public platform for geographical information, data and services it is of great use for the citizen in daily life. Geo.admin.ch’s outstanding achievement has demonstrated excellence in serving the public interest and has made a significant contribution to the improvement of public administration in Switzerland. It serves as an inspiration and encouragement for others working for public service.

Most prestigious international recognition

The United Nations Public Service Awards is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide. The award was accepted in New York on the 25^th of June under  attendance of highest international UN members by a Swiss delegation, consisting of members of swisstopo, the Federal Geoinformation-center and E-Government Switzerland.

Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service.

A priorized project of eGovernment Switzerland

geo.admin.ch is a high priority project of the Swiss eGovernment program. The goal of eGovernment is to enable both businesses and  citizens to carry out important transactions with the authorities electronically. The authorities in turn are called upon to modernize their business processes and communicate electronically with each other. The exchange of geodata is fostered by geo.admin.ch in a significant way.

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“Smart innovations for a smarter world”

Bearing the motto “smart innovations for a smarter world”, the prize awards an innovation which best demonstrates/describes the practical application of new technology/ideas in the field of Geoinformatics. Key factors are innovative quality, feasibility, practical use and market relevance. The innovation prize aims to stimulate students and student entrepreneurs to generate and implement innovative ideas and concepts in the geospatial domain.

This year’s 52°North Student Innovation Prize for Geoinformatics is endowed with 5000,- EUR.

Applicants can be students, student entrepreneurs, student research teams. Each individual must be enrolled as a BSc, an MSc or a Diploma student and must not own a degree in either geoinformatics, informatics or a related field.

Current Call for Proposals is online

Application deadline is August 31!

The innovation prize is sponsored by con terra GmbH, Esri Deutschland GmbH, the Institute for Geoinformatics at the University of Muenster, the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente and 52°North GmbH.

¿Would you like to learn more about Mark Twain’s life? ¿Are you interested in knowing the credit rating given by agencies to each country? ¿Do you wonder in which cities and stadiums the next Olympic Games will take place? O maybe you just want to know something else about the Seven Kingdoms of the Game of Thrones.

ikiMap is a service that allows its users to easily create and share their own maps on the internet.

The service was launched in by Sixtema, an expert firm in geographical technology, and so far has over 100.000 published maps by its users. ikMap has active groups of users providing best dining places in their cities, publishing their trekking routes, using the service inform about accident black spots or even discussing about the latest results of the presidential elections.

Companies and official institutions have also found in ikiMap a powerful tool to publish and share their maps and georeferenced information.

Coinciding with ikiMap’s second anniversary, a new version of the service has been released. It has a brand new design and adds tools that make it much easier to create and publish new maps.

The new version also allows users to manage all their maps from their profile. It is possible to decide how and when maps are published, or even limiting the access to maps to your friends and clients through the privacy settings.

Integration into other services

As part of the new version release, developers of websites and mobile apps can now integrate very easily with ikiMap through an API.  OruxMaps, an app created to draw maps from mobile devices, has been the first one to integrate with ikiMap. This means that any map created through this app can be seen directly on the internet through ikiMap.

On June 6 and 7, Geomap GIS America will be hosting its free annual seminar featuring the new releases of Autodesk solutions. This year, Geomap innovates by offering this seminar online,. The goal is to facilitate participation to this event and allow more people to attend. The presenters will cover the complete lifecycle of a BIM-Geomatics project including a LEED® component. This event will offer the opportunity to optimize each of the four important steps of a project: plan, design, build, and manage, by leveraging Autodesk solutions and Geomap’s expertise. This online event will be accessible from your workstation to encourage a small carbon footprint and for greater flexibility.

All participants will have the opportunity to see the most recent solutions for 3D modeling, infrastructure network conception, land planning, collaboration of information and optimization of a project, to decrease costs, accelerate the realization and minimize the environmental impact.

Here a brief overview of  the Software to be showcased during the seminar: AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3D, Autodesk Revit,Autodesk Infrastructure Modeller, Ecotect, Vasari, Autodesk Infrastructure Map Server, Buzzsaw, Vault AEC and much more.

At the recent Florida Floodplain Managers Association Annual Conference the engineering and environmental sciences consulting firm Jones Edmunds & Associates presented an evaluation of the SCALGO Flash Flood Mapping product. Using a detailed terrain model, SCALGO Flash Flood Mapping can be used to rapidly assess flood risk during extreme rain events on a local, regional or even national scale. Jones Edmunds compared SCALGO Flash Flood Mapping with the results of a recently completed Jones Edmunds flood study in Marion County, Florida, based on an advanced dynamic model (ICPR) used by the Florida authorities and listed by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a nationally accepted hydraulic model. They found that despite a cost of under 5% and a significantly reduced production time, the Flash Flood Mapping results were close to the results of the advanced modelling and the same time significantly more detailed. Another main conclusion was that SCALGO Flash Flood Mapping is a very cost efficient way of screening large areas for high flood-risk areas where very detailed dynamic modelling is justified.

SCALGO Flash Flood Mapping show how much rain has to fall during an extreme rain event before any given cell of a detailed (LiDAR based) raster terrain model is below water. Consequently, the mapping can be easily used to compute what part of each depression is below water after a given amount of rain, and thus effectively shows how water collects in depressions for all possible amounts of rain. The SCALGO Flash Flood Mapping product is being offered as a computation service. Based on the service and its national LIDAR-based terrain model, the major Danish engineering, environmental science and economics consulting company COWI has already successfully launched a new flash flood map product in Denmark, which is being used by several local governments as well as one of the five regional governments in Denmark (covering approximately 13.000 km²).

Information about SCALGO technology, products and services can be found at . 
Future information about SCALGO products and services can be received directly by signing up to the newsletter at list.php.

Scalable Algorithmics (SCALGO) was founded in with the mission to bring cutting-edge massive terrain data processing technology to market. The SCALGO technology is based on more than two decades of basic and applied research on I/O-efficient and geometric algorithms at Center for Massive Data Algorithmics (MADALGO) at Aarhus University in Denmark and at Duke University in the US, in collaboration with industry LiDAR and environmental GIS application experts. Software based on the technology can handle much larger terrain data sets on a normal desktop than most current software and thus it eliminates the need for accuracy-decreasing data thinning. The use of novel mathematical and algorithmic techniques also means that the software works provably efficient on all input data sets, delivering a completely specified output without the use of cumbersome work-flows such as those introduced by data tiling. SCALGO is involved in multiple research projects and offer special pricing for academic institutions.

Illustration of SCALGO Flash Flood Mapping used to show parts of the terrain below water for 50mm (red), 100mm (yellow) and 150mm (blue) of rain, respectively. Map data © Google Imagery ©COWI A/S, DDO, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Scankort.

DataAppeal is a new way to map and visualization your data quickly and easily. It transform data into powerful communicative messages! DataAppeal™ provides a web-based mapping application, designed to visualize geospatial data using captivating models and images. DataAppeal™ uses concepts of art and design to render alluring 3D and animated maps, helping to draw the audience to the data. It incorporates artistic measures to dramatize the data, therefore, increasing the interest in your information. Users upload a data file, and they can design their data using pre-defined 3D shapes, textures, various colors,time, and other visual effects to show hidden trends and concealed meanings. DataAppeal just released an upgraded version to include the option of layering multiple maps so users can quickly compare different data sets. Users can also try the new color gradient feature to quickly see common data points. All these features will continue to be free for a limited time, so you can see how useful they are when analyzing your data.