Online GML Fundamentals training from Snowflake Software is the first of its kind available worldwide

Southampton, UK. 5 December 2011: Following the recent launch of its new online training portal, Snowflake Software is pleased to announce that its special introductory offer for the Online GML Fundamentals course sold out in less than 48 hours. As part of its 10 year anniversary celebrations, Snowflake offered a special 10 for 10 for 10 promotion enabling 10 people to take the new course for just £10. All proceeds from the sell-out offer were donated by the Company to Soft Power Education, an NGO that supports health and education projects in Busoga, Uganda.

The Snowflake GML course is the only self-paced, online GML Fundamentals training course available worldwide which takes registrants through a modular framework allowing them to work at their own speed and fit training around their requirements. Led by Snowflake’s GML Trainer, Ballal Joglekar, the course is designed to be truly interactive with audible in-depth explanations and end of module quizzes enabling self assessment of learning objectives. Importantly, students benefit from CPD credits on completion of the AGI accredited course.

“The Online GML Fundamentals course makes GML training accessible to anyone, anywhere. It gives employees and organisations additional choice and flexibility for learning”, explains Ballal Joglekar. “Following our experience in providing interactive ‘classroom’ style training we have designed the online course to go beyond traditional ‘e-learning’ slides by incorporating voice over explanations, interactive diagrams and quizzes to engage students and enable them to assess their own progress.”

Sheila Drake, Training Manager at Snowflake comments “The training is available 24/7, to a worldwide audience, expanding our mission to support the industry in the use of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard, GML. When training and travel budgets are being reduced, online training such as ours is an efficient and affordable option for continued professional development.”

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Snowflake Software launches self-paced, online GML training

Snowflake Software has today launched its new online training portal, with the first self-paced online GML training course, worldwide.

In times of austerity, training and travel budgets are often the first to take a hit. The launch of the online training gives employees and organisations additional choice and flexibility for learning.

Ballal Joglekar, GML trainer at Snowflake, narrates the online training and has built several interactive steps along the way to ensure delegates get an enhanced learning experience.

• Pace learning at a speed convenient to you
• Listen to in depth explanations
• Understand with interactive diagrams
• Check learning with end of module quizzes
• Continue professional development with this AGI accredited course

The first course to be made available in the online format is the popular GML Fundamentals training, making this the only self-paced, online GML training course available worldwide.

Sheila Drake, Training Manager, at Snowflake Software said:

“The launch of our online GML training is another result of keeping customers at the heart of everything we do.” She added: “The training is available 24/7, to a worldwide audience, expanding the reach in our mission to support the industry in the use of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard, GML.”

The new GML Fundamentals online training course can be purchased online with a credit/debit card and can be taken immediately. The course retails at £350.00 but a limited introductory offer is available to the first 10 people to take the course.

Ian Painter comments:

“To celebrate the launch of this new product coinciding with our own 10 year anniversary, we are offering the course for £10.00 to the first 10 people to purchase it. The proceeds will go to Soft Power Education, the charity of choice of our chairman who is celebrating his 70^th birthday later this month.”

For more information about the training course, please visit www.snowflakesoftware.com/elearning/ .

About Snowflake Software

Snowflake Software, the ‘Data eXchange Company’, provide commercial off the shelf software products, services and training that facilitate data exchange and interoperability within the Data Provider, INSPIRE, Defence and Aviation markets. Snowflake’s unique off the shelf GO Loader and GO Publisher products enable organisations to exchange data by wrapping existing legacy infrastructure with open standards.

Website: www.snowflakesoftware.com

Snowflake Software to showcase first loading tool with support for AddressBase GML products

Snowflake Software is showcasing its market leading loading tool, GO Loader, at the ‘Everything Happens Somewhere’ conference in Nottingham, on 3 November 2011.

GO Loader is the first tool on the market to support the recently announced AddressBase products from Ordnance Survey and GeoPlace. The generic, standards based data loading tool, has been supporting customers in loading Ordnance Survey mapping products for several years, including OS MasterMap, OS VectorMap and the OS OpenData suite of products. The additional support for the new AddressBase products makes it a first in the marketplace.

Ian Painter, Managing Director, comments:

“GO Loader is the first loading tool on the market to support AddressBase products. Customers can load and manage their AddressBase product into Oracle, SQL Server 2008 or PostGIS and connect and visualise to a choice of GIS including ArcGIS and MapInfo.”

He added:

“Because GO Loader is built on open standards using interoperable technology, existing customers can start using GO Loader for AddressBase without the need for costly upgrade or coding.”

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Snowflake Software announces new major release of GO Publisher

Snowflake Software, has today announced the launch of a new major release of its flagship GO Publisher product.

Building on its GO Publisher 1.4 predecessor, GO Publisher 2.0 has been built with input and contribution from the existing GO Publisher customer community via its Early Access Programme.

Containing over 50 improvements, GO Publisher 2.0 is a major new release for existing customers and any new customers looking to publish data.

Key new features include:

• Web Feature Service (WFS) 2.0 for INSPIRE Compliance
• Integrated data validation
• Temporal and stored queries
• High end scalability with two-Stage WFS deployment
• XML schema viewer
• Enhanced security for data over WFS
• Additional platform support
• Productivity enhancements
• Advanced configuration

Eddie Curtis, CTO and Product Manager comments:

“The improvements delivered within GO Publisher 2.0 offer huge advancements for publishing data - from increased productivity, high scalability, tighter security and to up-to-date compliance with legislation requirements such as INSPIRE.  Hence this release warrants the title of a ‘major release’.”

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Snowflake Software launches webinar series to support Public Sector Mapping Agreement

Kicking off with OS VectorMap Local, Snowflake has launched a new campaign to support their customers and contacts in getting more from Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA) data products.

The series of free, half hour webinars, start on 8 September and will take attendees through:

• ·         Key benefits of the various PSMA data products
• ·         Loading and managing the data to a database (including Change Only Updates)
• ·         Visualising the data in a GIS
• ·         Question & Answer session with a panel of experts

The first webinar, ‘Load, manage and visualise OS VectorMap Local in esri ArcGIS’, takes place at 14:00 (UK) on Thursday 8 September and is hosted by Richard Rombouts (Snowflake Software) with Owain Hale-Heighway (Ordnance Survey VectorMap Local Product Manager) as guest presenter.

Anyone wishing to attend the free webinar should register their details in advance.

Melissa Burns, Head of Marketing at Snowflake Software comments:

“The webinar series aims to support current and future members of the Public Sector Mapping Agreement in being able to efficiently use and manage the available data products with one flexible solution.”

She added:

“With more and more data being made available in GML (the data exchange standard), Snowflake Software customers automatically benefit without having to reinvest in additional software. The webinars will cover the full PSMA product range as well as OS OpenData.”

The webinar series ends in November and will cover OS VectorMap Local, OS MasterMap (Topography, Address Layer 2 ITN/ RRI), the new National Address Gazetteer and OS Open Data.

About Snowflake Software

Snowflake Software, market innovators in geospatial data solutions, provide commercial off the shelf software products that facilitate data exchange and interoperability within the Data Provider, INSPIRE, Defence and Aviation markets. Based on open standards, the unique off the shelf GO Loader and GO Publisher products allows the build of next generation Open Data infrastructures by wrapping existing legacy infrastructure.  Combine the off the shelf software with the knowledge of our industry experts, business consultants and training courses and we can work with you to tailor our products and services to your specific needs.

Website: www.snowflakesoftware.com