Aerialogics Expands into Europe with New Partnership

As an esteemed aerial measurement services industry leader, Aerialogics has announced a newly signed contract giving the company exclusive rights to access one of the largest geographic imagery databases in Europe.  The large-scale provider, BlomASA, is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with business operations spanning across 13 different countries.  Specializing in geospatial services, Blom caters to companies, private and government organizations by providing access to its unique spatial databases composed of maps, images and 3D models. Blom’s quality aerial imagery has resolutions averaging 10-15 cm per pixel, with several images reaching as precise as 4cm per pixel. Captured in a series of flights with high resolution cameras attached, the image database covers more than 4,000 European cities in detail.

The long-term agreement provides Aerialogics with access to all BlomOBLIQUE™ datasets as well as parts of the BlomORTHO™ product layer.  Presenting an opportunity to create high added-value applications and services, Aerialogics will be utilizing the advanced models to expand on their highly acclaimed expertise. Already known for the accuracy of their aerial measurements, the company would be able to further increase the measurement precision of structures and properties with the additional datasets.

“Aerialogics is proud to partner with Blom and have access to their world-renowned image database and sophisticated GeoServer technology, BlomURBEX™,” states Andrew Zickell, Vice President of Global Strategy at Aerialogics.

“Blom is very excited about partnering with Aerialogics to enter into a new market segment. The combination of Aerialogics’ expertise and proven success in the US market, coupled with Blom’s unique European coverage, provides a truly compelling offering to the European market,” says Magnus Olson, Assistant Vice President of Sales at Blom Group.

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OnYourMap and Blom announce partnership and the release of a common high performance mapping platform

OnYourMap and Blom announce partnership and the release of a common high performance mapping platform, integrating the innovative OnYourMap technology and the renowned high resolution oblique and satellite imagery from Blom.

OnYourMap, a leading Location Based (LBS) and mapping service provider, and Blom, the European service provider within acquisition, processing and modeling of geographic information, announced today their agreement on a strategic partnership to supply a new integrated mapping platform, to the local search and information portals on web and mobile platforms.

The new common solution is especially adapted to online Yellow Pages and public transportation markets as well as local government and large portals.

OnYourMap and Blom now offer a comprehensive location based platform with services and high quality content for mapping, routing, geocoding and innovative search. This no-compromise platform enables web and mobile portals to boost their presence and revenues while positioning their valuable brand at the forefront and preserving their customers and content.

• OnYourMap exclusive internet and mobile mapping, specifically targeted for local search and public transportation,

• Blom rich and high resolution imagery BlomORTHO™, BlomOBLIQUE™ and Blom3D™ bring tremendous enhancements to the user experience and to the value of the portals,

• Powerful mapping, routing and geo-coding, with maps updated every 3 months,

• Intelligent search engine, including “What, Where, When”, together with proximity search,

• iPhone, iPad and Android robust SDK's readily available together with numerous handset support in HTLM5,

• Highest performance per CPU on the market, thanks to powerful technology,

• Powerful API's (Javascript, Ajax, Flash, Silverlight) for easy integration

• Award winning professional services for supporting their clients

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Blom signs framework agreement valued at approximately €2.6 million with Stockholm municipalities

Blom has signed a framework contract with all 26 municipalities in the Stockholm region (Stockholms län), Sweden with an estimated value of approximately €2.6 million.

The framework agreement comprises supply of services for airborne photography, laser scanning and corresponding mapping and modeling. The framework contract covers the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, with an optional extension of a further 2 years.

“The municipalities and government market sectors are already a core customer segment for Blom. We have worked for many years to position ourselves within the municipality and government markets to provide geographic services. This agreement is of great importance to us and we see it as confirmation of our experience and knowledge. It also helps us to further develop our services to municipalities, especially with the use of the latest technology developments in airborne sensors." Hans Strandberg, Sales Manager Blom Sweden

The scope of the contract is to cover the municipalities’ broad need for updated and accurate data for urban planning and construction in one of Scandinavia’s currently most expansive regions. Typical deliverables are believed to be a variety of large scale base maps, ortho photos (aerial photos), 3D building models and terrain models. The projects following this agreement will be managed by Blom’s subsidiary in Sweden with the support of resources and expertise from the entire Blom group.

About Blom

Blom is a leading European service provider within acquisition, processing and modeling of geographic information. Blom maintains unique European databases with collections of map, images and models. With particular focus on online services, Blom provides data and solutions to customers in government, enterprise and consumer markets and enables partners to create applications using Blom's databases, location based services and navigation solution. Blom has app 1,000 employees and subsidiaries in 13 countries. The company headquarter is located in Oslo, Norway. Blom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker BLO).

For further information please contact:

Dirk Blaauw, CEO Blom ASA, at tel: +47 22 13 19 23 or

Lars Bakklund, CFO Blom ASA, at tel: +47 22 13 19 34

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Blom releases v 3.1 of BlomDESKTOP Viewer, a desktop application for geospatial data

Following development of the BlomURBEX API, v3.1 of the BlomDESKTOP™ Viewer is now available. BlomDESKTOP Viewer is Blom’s stand alone geospatial data viewer and offers advanced measurement and interrogation capabilities. The latest release has largely focused on the addition of new features and the integration of BlomSTREET™, powered by Cyclomedia, ground level imagery technology.

Some of BlomDESKTOP's new features include:

• Full integration with BlomSTREET imagery including measurement capability
• LiDAR Viewer accessing data directly online via BlomURBEX as well as offline LAS files
• WMS with authentication is now supported
• Hosted LiDAR data available via BlomURBEX
• Improved projections interface allowing custom projection definition
• MapInfo tabs can be imported
• Labelling feature for vector overlays (kml,gml,shp)
• Added overlay opacity feature
• Added BlomDESKTOP Remote Invocation feature
• BlomDESKTOP can now run with non-administrative privileges – maximising ease of use when running the app in strict IT environments

BlomDESKTOP Viewer displays all of Blom data models, including vertical & oblique aerial imagery, height data and the recently released Blom3D™ city models all in one unique application.

Visit www.blomasa.com for more information or contact us for a demonstration.

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.

Effective vegetation management for the UK power industry with Blom LiDAR

Following several months of discussions, meetings and market testing, Cheddar-based Blom UK, a leading provider of aerial photography and digital mapping services, has created a complete solution for effectively managing vegetation and trees close to power lines, and is rolling this out as an offering to the UK power industry.

Blom’s solution utilises accurate height data taken from a LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) survey, along with detailed CAD models of the power lines to determine vegetation risk and proximity to lines and towers.

This is combined with wide ranging weather data for the region to calculate the position of the power lines at the time of heaviest use, in order to replicate the lowest “sag” of the power line relative to the surrounding vegetation and trees.

Greg Lewis, Sales and Business Development Executive at Blom UK, said: “Distinct from similar products developed by UK geospatial data providers, Blom chose to work with their experienced sister company in Norway to adapt the Blom forest inventory products offered in the Scandinavian countries, to suit the UK market in providing accurate tree attribution information”.

By collecting large amounts of LiDAR data, the industries vegetation managers are able to focus their efforts only on the trees and vegetation that require cutting, allowing a more efficient, targeted approach to be put in place.

With the Electricity Supply Regulations (ESR) of 1988 being replaced with the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations (ESQCR) in 2002, (which set out guidance to improve the resilience and reliability of overhead electricity distribution networks), electricity companies are coming under more pressure than ever to ensure that the increasing demand for electricity across the UK is met and distributed effectively.

Many of the UK power companies are starting to realize the numerous benefits from using LiDAR as an asset management tool, going further than simply providing a cloud of points. Blom are now offering a range of value added products and complimentary services, not only to vegetation managers but also the engineers for profiling and design.

Greg commented:  “This could be the first step towards a shift in the culture of the UK power industry, towards fully adopting new technologies and non invasive survey techniques”.

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