OceanWise Marine Themes and Raster Charts Go Global

Independent marine data management and publishing specialist, OceanWise Ltd, has established off-the-shelf marine mapping datasets that meet the needs of the most demanding applications.  These datasets include Raster Charts, Marine Themes and the recently released Marine Themes DEM.  Offering exceptional value, OceanWise mapping, data management and GIS products are being used widely in the UK and Ireland across central and local Government, NGOs and the commercial sector.

OceanWise is now pleased to announce that its marine mapping is now available globally from established UK based digital mapping distributors, FIND Mapping and emapsite.com as well as from local in-country distributors.  The data is provided for immediate download in open GIS formats under licence or as subscription based Web Mapping and Feature Services (OGC WMS and WFS).  Please see the OceanWise website for details. 

OceanWise’s MD, Dr Mike Osborne, who has pioneered the development of marine GIS, Marine SDI and marine mapping for over 12 years explains, “Hydrographic Offices and other marine agency data is required to support numerous offshore applications from environment protection to economic development.  In the past many organisations have been unwilling to make this data available in a form that can be used readily in GIS or on the Web.  We have been working closely with numerous Hydrographic Offices worldwide to build the necessary understanding and now have a portfolio of agreements that provide good coverage across Europe and farther afield.  We will continue to support and work with our partners and stakeholders to make truly global marine datasets available for use in GIS at the earliest opportunity, and at all scale levels”.  

OceanWise Marine Themes and Raster Charts Global Datasets offer the following key advantages:

1. Comprehensive national and international coverage available from on-line sources
2. Supports HO’s wider and long-term publication aims without adding to their costs
3. Commonly required reference datasets supplied in vector, raster and grid formats
4. Scale independent layers provide authoritative coverage when and where required
5. Symbology and other supporting information reduce GIS project start up times
6. Raster Charts, Marine Themes and Marine Themes DEM combine to provide the most comprehensive and advance marine mapping data available for GIS and Web GIS.

OceanWise and its distributors are able to combine Marine Themes and Raster Charts with data from other national and international agencies to provide a complete marine geospatial data solution.  Projects are charged by value of the service and not by applying excessive product and licence fees.    

About OceanWise

OceanWise Ltd is an independent company specialising in all aspects of marine environmental data acquisition, data and knowledge management and GIS.   OceanWise personnel have been pioneering the development of marine data products for over 12 years, first at Metoc then at SeaZone, and at the UK Hydrographic Office.  This experience has culminated in the design and development of the advanced Marine Themes vector and modelled datasets.  In addition to Digital Marine Mapping, OceanWise offers:

• Environmental Data Management and Publishing (Ocean Database and Port-Log.net)
• GIS and Marine Data Acquisition, Management and Dissemination Advice and Training
• Sector Specific Productivity Tools (Maritime Toolbar and Workflow Extensions)

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FME World Tour makes a stop in the UK with host - Dotted Eyes

During September Dotted Eyes entertained a record number of delegates at the FME User Meeting as part of the FME 2012 World Tour – hosted in London and Birmingham with additional FME events in Cardiff and Manchester – gaining a fantastic response from all who attended. Dotted Eyes, one of the UK’s leading GIS service providers, took a radically different approach to their FME events this year by making it all about the individual and the issues they face. An innovative gold star award system – devised to answer four user questions – ensured delegates went away with tangible solutions to their own specific FME challenges.

With a real focus on building a strong UK FME community, the event was also much more interactive than ever before. Countless delegates grabbed the opportunity to quiz FME gurus, while the multiple interactive sessions encouraged users to swap tried and tested practises, creating a buzz of activity amongst the delegates.

Dotted Eyes replaced the traditional lecture-style conference with three interactive workshops. Of the workshops, the FME pub quiz – hosted by Dotted Eyes’ FME expert James Bowler – caused a hubbub of excitement as orange stress balls were thrown to delegates across the room for correct answers. 

As the UK’s only Platinum partner of Safe Software, Dotted Eyes were delighted to incorporate an engaging presentation from Safe’s very own co-founder and Vice President of Development, Dale Lutz, and European Services Manager, Ken Bragg. The Canadian double act shared the best global uses of FME that they encountered during their recent world tour, providing fantastic hints and tips for both novice and experienced users.

Mark Murray, GIS Team Leader at Stockport Council, said: “One of the best events I've attended in recent years. I enjoyed every minute of it, especially as I felt the format and the topics covered were 100% relevant to me. It was invaluable not just in terms of what I learnt but also being able to talk directly to one of the creators of the technology.”

Gareth Williams, GIS Technical Manager at Fluor, said: “I really enjoyed the friendly and interactive nature of the UK FME User Meeting. It was a hugely valuable event for me. The format made it really easy for me to network and share idea with other FME users. I went away having learnt new applications for FME that I will now put into practice.”

Feedback from delegates taken via a survey also confirmed the overwhelming success of the event.  86% of delegates scored it as one of the best events they’ve attended and 100% said they would recommend it to others.

Dale Lutz commented: “It’s always fascinating to be able to interact with enthusiastic FME customers and learn about the innovative ways they’re using the product.  Dotted Eyes were great hosts and created an informative interactive environment to help British FME users enhance their skills.”

Dotted Eyes’ MD, Ben Allan, was thrilled with the turnout: “This year’s event was all about delivering value to the FME user. We wanted to implement a completely different format, which provided real answers to everyday issues organisations face. I am delighted to say that the conferences were a huge success, confirmed by the crowd of delegates that followed us to the pub afterwards!”

Safe Software is the maker of FME and the pioneering global leader in spatial data transformation technology. FME empowers users to confidently transform spatial data so it can be used and shared - where, when and how it's needed. 

About Dotted Eyes:
Dotted Eyes provides business solutions with a location focus to over 1,250 customers. With a heritage of over 20 years, Dotted Eyes has established itself as an innovator of solutions and services that help organisations to locate efficiencies and make cost savings through expert consultancy, training and software development in healthcare, local government and the commercial sector. Dotted Eyes’ clients include IBM, Orange, Barclays, the NHS and the BBC as well as other household names such as the National Trust. The company also maintains long standing expert partnerships with location data providers such as Ordnance Survey, Safe Software and Pitney Bowes Business Insight and operates certified training courses nationwide. For more information, visit: www.dottedeyes.com.

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Sigma Seven Ranked Number One IT Company

Edinburgh software company, Sigma Seven, has been ranked the number one IT company in Scottish Business Insider magazine’s Sprint100 survey. The survey, now in its eighth year, reveals which independent Scottish growth companies are on the ‘fast-track’ to success.

Sigma Seven was also ranked in seventh place overall, reflecting its position as a strong, consistent performer within the Scottish business community as a whole, with turnover up 64 per cent in the last year.

Sigma Seven specialises in mobile work-management, field data collection and map-based workflow systems. Its product, GeoField, uses state-of- the-art technology to bring data together from a number of sources, allowing field workers in remote and rural areas to access files, collect and manage data, organise tasks and record information directly onto digital maps, either on a tablet or a laptop.

GeoField has created significant savings for Sigma Seven clients over the years - in some cases hundreds of thousands of pounds, saving companies time and money by speeding up and streamlining data collection processes. It has reduced the impact of field projects on the environment too, as no paper is involved and fewer car journeys are required.

The company has grown from four to 19 staff, since it was founded in 2000 and this year Sigma Seven won its first contract in the US, for energy giant Iberdrola. Another of its current projects is to provide bespoke software solutions for Balfour Beatty, for one of the biggest infra-structure projects in the UK - the multi million pound project to replace the electricity transmission line between Beauly and Wharry Burn, near Denny in Stirlingshire.

Other clients include National Grid, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), the Health & Safety Executive and ScottishPower, which was the company’s first customer and has remained a client ever since.

Founder and managing director, Paul Reid commented: “We are delighted to be recognised as the number one IT company in this survey and the seventh ranking business overall.

“The whole Sigma Seven team has worked hard to grow the company to this stage and we are anticipating further growth over the next few years.

“Our strategy will, however, remain the same - to focus on building long-term relationships with our customers and creating solutions which are an ideal fit for their business needs.”

http://www.sigmaseven.co.uk/

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Elizabeth Vega, CEO of Informed Solutions elected as SME Vice-Chair for Intellect’s Public Sector Council

Informed Solutions is delighted to announce that its CEO, Elizabeth Vega, has been elected as the SME Vice-Chair for Intellect’s Public Sector Council (PSC).

In recent years, Elizabeth has been an active champion for SME engagement in the public sector and has worked for and with: multi-national corporations; national and public sector bodies; academia; and SMEs from start-ups to high performing mid-tier companies.  Elizabeth believes her experience can make a real difference to how the PSC influences government and how members work together. 

Elizabeth comments:

“I would like to start by sincerely thanking fellow Council members for electing me as their SME Vice-Chair.  Working with the PSC and the other two newly elected Vice-Chairs, I hope to influence and encourage government’s efforts to work in new ways and engage with the full spectrum of suppliers available within the UK marketplace.  Public sector services will benefit from access to new skills, talent and capability, and it will help government energise and innovate after what has been an extended period of institutional level restructure.  Government working with and through SMEs will facilitate delivering the savings that the public purse needs, whilst also creating new employment and market opportunities for the UK economy. It’s a win-win scenario for government and business.

As the CEO of an organisation with a proven pedigree in delivering innovative, award-winning technology projects, I understand first-hand the key challenges both suppliers and government face in managing costs/value; successfully delivering against challenging requirements; and achieving this within sustainable business parameters.

Over the next 12 months, I hope to work with PSC to focus on encouraging suppliers of all sizes to become a collaborative, quality and value conscious community that strengthens government confidence in public sector IT.

Furthermore, I would like to work with the government to “rightsize”, simplify and make lean procurement, particularly in ways that support it in achieving the aspiration of 25% spend with SMEs. I have put forward a number of practical suggestions for how this can be achieved, which have gained traction within government over the last 2 years, and I would like to build on this work in collaboration with other PSC members.”

Informed

Informed is a truly independent professional services and specialist systems integration practice.  We deliver exceptional value by providing clients with simple, high performing solutions to complex business problems, particularly where place, location or geography is important (www.Informed.com).

For more information about our services contact us on:

Tel: 020 3042 2000 / 0161 942 2000 or email David.Chapman@Informed.com.

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Cadcorp Announces Partnership with MapSoft for the Serbian Geospatial Market

Stevenage UK, 29 September 2012 - British developer of geographic information systems (GIS) software, Cadcorp, has formed a partnership with the Belgrade-based geomatics specialist MapSoft Ltd. The 17 person company which was founded in 2002 by academics from the Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformatics at the University of Belgrade, is a respected supplier of software and services to the GIS market in Serbia and surrounding territories.

MapSoft will promote the Cadcorp Spatial Information System(r) (Cadcorp SIS(r)) software as a complement to MapSoft's own data capture product which is widely deployed in cadastral offices, surveying and mapping agencies, local governments and utilities companies in Serbia, the Republic of Srpska, Macedonia, and Montenegro.

"We realised a number of years ago, that as a provider of geomatic solutions we needed to have available a whole range of geoprocessing capabilities and we set about identifying suitable products and companies" said Zeljko Cvijetinovic , Managing Director of MapSoft. "We narrowed our search down to four suppliers, and Cadcorp was one of those.  Cadcorp SIS offers the range of functionality we required and, very importantly for us, it adheres to open standards. Cadcorp employs a dedicated team of knowledgeable specialists and having confidence in the ability of a supplier to support us was critical for our selection."

"The Serbian market for GIS - especially the municipal GIS market - is characterized by a multiplicity of different software systems and data formats" continued Mr. Cvijetinovic . "Cadcorp is well-known for the ability of its products to coexist with other systems. We see Cadcorp SIS fulfilling a role for our customers not just as another GIS, but also as central repository capable of serving multiple systems and applications."

Mike O'Neil, CEO of Cadcorp said: "In the short time we have been partners, MapSoft has already won significant business in the local government market. We look forward to building on this success with Mr. Cvijetinovic and his highly-skilled team."

MapSoft specialises in aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry, topographic and cadastral surveying and mapping, and in delivering customised GIS solutions customised to their clients' needs.  The company has created digital orthophoto coverage for 35% of the land area of Serbia.  Through a sister company, MapSoft is also engaged in vehicle tracking and fleet management.

For more information about Cadcorp and MapSoft visit www.cadcorp.com<http://www.cadcorp.com> and www.mapsoft.rs<http://www.mapsoft.rs>

The publication of AGI member press releases is a member service. The AGI neither approves or endorses the contents of member's press releases, nor makes any assurance of their factual accuracy.