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Greetings!
Diagnostic Tools for a Sustainable Planet
It seems as though everywhere you turn today there is talk of climate change, ozone layer depletion, global warming and other related calamities affecting our planet. The search is on for reliable, quantifiable and repetitive tools that can deliver real information for decision making in support of sustaining our planet. In this issue of Footsteps and Futures we examine how PCI Geomatics is providing a diagnosis in the form of best of breed imaging technology to help support this global challenge.
For years PCI has been contributing knowledge and technology to sustain a green planet, through the provision of many advanced earth imaging "diagnostic" tools. Included in our "medical bag" are tools for change detection, environmental analysis, land and forestry inventory, along with many others.
More recently, PCI has branched out, just as our tag line states, we have challenged ourselves to "Think Bigger" and we have. We now provide advanced systems for the automatic pre-processing of large volumes of image data, thus delivering GIS ready imagery products in significantly reduced times. We have even gone beyond this to provide cartographic quality image maps delivered over the web in near-real time with our new 'On-Demand Mapping' technology. Visit our web site and see how these new "geocapacity" information systems are serving applications such as disaster management, environmental monitoring and wetlands inventory to remedy and maintain a green planet.
 So yes - think bigger - and think beyond - and experience the insight that is PCI Geomatics.
Dr. Robert Moses
President and CEO, PCI Geomatics
Footsteps & Futures is now available in French, Spanish and Chinese. Visit the "Quick Links" section at the bottom of our newsletter.
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Company News |
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PCI Geomatics acquires TGIS Technologies Inc.
PCI Geomatics is pleased to announce the acquisition of TGIS Technologies Inc., a company specializing in geospatial collaboration software. TGIS Technologies Inc. is based in Chelsea, Quebec, and is the developer of GeoConference® Software - a unique enterprise solution that allows groups to share and view maps and imagery interactively over the web, in real-time. Read the full press release .
PCI Geomatics Acquires Geospace Inc.
PCI Geomatics is pleased to announce the acquisition of Geospace Inc., a provider of geospatial information and solutions. Geospace Inc., based in Albuquerque, NM, is the developer of FeatureObjeX , a user friendly stand alone software package combining interactive editing tools for sophisticated image analysis and feature extraction. Read the full press release.
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International News |
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Official Opening of PCI Geomatics Beijing
 PCI Geomatics officially opened its new international office in Beijing with a ribbon cutting ceremony on November 2, 2008, at the Shangri-La's Kerry Centre Hotel. This event marked the public launch and initiation of PCI Geomatics operations based in China. Guests included Chinese and Canadian government officials, alongside the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, as well as representatives from his 2008 Ontario Environmental Mission to China.
 Premier McGuinty recognizes PCI Geomatics' role in the betterment and sustainability of our planet, saying: "And not only is PCI Geomatics doing well for itself, it's doing good for the world. By helping the world to measure carbon emissions and the effectiveness of plans to reduce those emissions, you're helping us to win the fight against climate change".
 In addition to the opening in Beijing, PCI Geomatics took part in the Ontario Environmental Mission to China led by Premier McGuinty, from October 26 - November 6. The Mission focused on linking Ontario based environmental business groups with Chinese organizations involved in environmental programs.
 While in China, PCI Geomatics signed 2 letters of agreement. The first was signed with the Centre for Earth Observation and Digital Earth(CEODE), Chinese Academy of Science - setting the framework for PCI and CEODE to jointly work on issues of climate change, environmental monitoring and disaster assessment in China. The second was signed with the National Geomatics Centre of China (NGCC), Bureau of Surveys and Mapping, focusing on change by rapid urbanization and the effects on the urban environment; the city of Tianjin is the first test site.
For more information on PCI (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd: http://pcigeomatics.cn/index_english.html.
Mr. Yubin Xin
General Manager
PCI (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd
Suite 606, Hanhai International Tower (1+1 Building)
No. 10 Caihefang Rd., Haidian, Beijing, Zip: 100080
Tel: 010-58835891; Fax: 010-58835867; Mobile: 13522489580
Email: xin@pcigeomatics.com
URL: http://pcigeomatics.cn/
Press Conference
 On November 12, PCI Geomatics opened its doors at its Richmond Hill head office to host a news conference for Minister Michael Chan, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, to discuss the results of the Environmental Mission.
 Both English and Chinese media outlets reported on the findings, including PCI Geomatics' involvement as discussed by Mission delegate Trevor Taylor, Director of Business Development.
View the coverage of the Post-China Trade Mission Press Conference.
Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)
 PCI Geomatics has completed a contract with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to build an automated production system for the orthorectification, mosaicking and pansharpening of KOMPSAT-2 satellite imagery. This fully automated system is built on our GeomaticaX technology and constructed by our Professional Services team.
The system automatically generates value-added products including ortho images, mosaic images, and pan-sharpened images derived from standard KOMPSAT-2 panchromatic (1-meter resolution) and multispectral (4-meter resolution) data.
To read the full press release: http://www.pcigeomatics.com/pressne ws/2008_PCI_KARI.html
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PCI in the News |
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Headlines Around the World
 PCI Geomatics continues to make headlines around the world. Take a look at our latest exposure.
PCI Geomatics is hiring!
 Check out our careers page for a complete listing.
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User Spotlight - Solutions |
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Iunctus Geomatics
Tell us a little about the project you are working on.
Telus, Iunctus Geomatics and PCI Geomatics have teamed up to provide cloud free, SPOT 4 & 5 ortho imagery to the Government of Canada. The objective is to provide complete coverage (of SPOT 4 & 5 imagery) for all of Canada south of the 81st parallel. The cloud free imagery will be collected by Iunctus Geomatics during the summers of 2005 - 2010. Iunctus performs the data reception and image quality control, sensor quality measurements, preprocessing as well as initial cloud and snow estimates prior to delivering the imagery to PCI Geomatics.
PCI receives the satellite data from Iunctus and performs fully automated end-to-end ortho correction in UTM and LCC projection, automated quality control, production of metadata and packaging the deliverable in a zip format archive. PCI performs an additional manual quality check prior to delivering the zip archive to Natural Resources Canada, Centre for Topographic Information in Sherbrooke, Quebec. The ortho correction procedure includes assembling auxiliary data such as Ground Control Point (GCP) data layers and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) tiles prior to performing orthorectification. The remote sensing and geomatics communities use orthoimages in a wide variety of applications such as mapping, land use planning, management, agriculture, forestry, geology, maritime monitoring, disaster management, defense and security. The orthoimagery produced by PCI Geomatics can be integrated with other geospatial data such as vector data, digital elevation data, and many other geographical data products.
How did PCI technology help?
PCI Geomatics software was instrumental in the automated end-to-end processing of the data. The Toutin satellite models used by PCI software are world renowned for providing consistently accurate quality ortho products. The ortho-correction process required a consistently reliable and accurate method to assemble the source data. In this respect, PCI Geomatics software was beneficial in compiling individual DEM tiles, vector data (National Road Network) and Panchromatic Ortho-corrected LANDSAT 7 data to be used as reference input for automatic GCP collection and refinement. PCI Geomatics' sophisticated algorithms for accurately matching vector to image data, as well as image -to - image data matching for GCP collection was used. The ability of PCI Geomatics software to work in various Geomatics formats permitted the output ortho images to be delivered in GeoTiff format for each individual band. This allowed for the ortho products to be completely transparent and portable throughout the Remote Sensing and GIS communities.
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User Spotlight- Desktop |
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Carleton University
 Doug King - Professor in Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada). URL: http://www.carleto n.ca/~dking
Tell us a little about what you do. I teach Remote Sensing at the 3rd year, 4th year and graduate levels. I conduct research in modeling and mapping of forest and wetland characteristics such as composition, structure, health, and habitat quality.
Why do you like Geomatica?
It has sophisticated image processing and analysis algorithms for scientific research - and it's Canadian. I think we should be very proud of Canada's remote sensing heritage and outstanding ongoing international reputation in industry and government R&D. It is very suitable for students as they learn how to use more than the very common GIS software and they can apply their expertise in almost all employment opportunities in remote sensing in Canada.
What are your favourite Geomatica features or capabilities?
- A selection of sophisticated classification algorithms including neural network and spectral unmixing classification
- Spatial processing such as texture analysis that is very important in high resolution modeling and mapping
- Capability for customized scripting (my grad students tend to learn how to do this for advanced research needs)
- A user interface that is straightforward for undergraduate students to learn but with more sophisticated capabilities than many software systems. Students see this and appreciate the value of it through laboratory exercises
What kinds of projects/tasks do you use Geomatica for?
Research projects including:
- Forest structural complexity mapping in Gatineau Park using high resolution remote sensing and environmental data
- Multi-scale land cover mapping using hierarchical object-based classification
- Vegetation biomass and composition mapping in riverine marshes using Ikonos
- Hooded warbler habitat mapping using spectral and spatial analysis of Landsat and Ikonos data
Geomatica is used for geo-referencing, atmospheric correction, image processing such as noise reduction, texture, principal components analysis, etc., image classification and accuracy assessment.
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In the Spotlight |
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PCI Geomatics Supports Future Leaders of Geospatial Industry
PCI Geomatics believes in giving back to the community and has been pleased to participate in GIS Day for many years. This designated 'global' day includes educational events that enable geographic information system users and vendors to showcase real-world applications to the public. More than 74 countries now take part in this day which began back in 1998.
PCI Geomatics is also proud to support top students from local Universities/Colleges enrolled in geospatial and photogrammetry programs. For more information on how your school can get involved with PCI Geomatics, please visit our education alliance page.
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Product News |
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Coming soon in 2009 - Geomatica 10.2. Stay tuned!
FeatureObjeX
 FeatureObjeX is a new feature extraction tool for satellite and aerial images. Now available, this user friendly, stand alone software package combines interactive editing tools with sophisticated image analysis to produce useful results immediately. Download a free trial version today.
PostgreSQL database
 PCI Geomatics has expanded its image management systems with the addition of support for the PostgreSQL database. PostgreSQL is an open source object-relational database management system. The new support offered consists of functions for loading raster and vector layers into a PostgreSQL database.
ProLines
 Available for nearly 20 satellite sensors, ProLines are designed to help with your image pre-processing. These highly automated workflows can run unattended, around the clock and are used for image orthorectification, mosaicking, pan sharpening and more.
Enhance your GIS with imagery and image processing!
 Are you looking to enhance your GIS system to better manage and handle imagery?
PCI's Geomatica Image Management System (GIMS) is a modular solution featuring add-on components for popular GIS systems. Modules include those for bulk loading imagery, basic to advanced image analysis, as well as web access and imagery distribution. Read more.
Definiens Image Intelligence Suite v7.0.8 is now here
 Definiens Image Intelligence Suite brings the remarkable powers of object-oriented and context- enabled image analysis to a single desktop.
Read more.
Colour Balancing - advancements coming soon!
 PCI Geomatics is pleased to be working in the area of updating our code for colour balancing within our Geomatica software. This breakthrough technique will be appropriate for mosaics using large numbers of images and will be made available in late 2009.
For questions on any of the above mentioned items, please contact info@pcigeomatics.com, or visit our contact us page to locate the PCI representative nearest you.
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On the Road |
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Look for the PCI Geomatics booth at an event near you where our experts will be on hand to answer your questions and show you a live demo.
- Map World Forum: February 10 - 13, 2009
Location: Hyderabad, India
Guest Speaker: Dr. Robert Moses, President and CEO, PCI Geomatics
- ASPRS: March 9 - 13, 2009
Location: Baltimore, USA
*User group meeting March 9
1pm - 5pm Harborside Room B
Unable to visit us in person? Check out our free videos on how Geomatica can support your geospatial processing needs.
Or download our free webinars to learn the latest about increasing your productivity.
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Survey |
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Enter to Win a Copy of Geomatica Core
Take our quick, 5 question survey and you will be entered in a draw to win a Free copy of Geomatica Core. Deadline closes January 9.
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Locations |
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About PCI Geomatics
PCI Geomatics is a world leading developer of image - centric software and solutions for geospatial imaging applications. Specializing in remote sensing, digital photogrammetry, spatial analysis, cartographic production, automated production systems, image management, on demand mapping solutions and more, we have the knowledge and experience to solve your imagery requirements. With over 25 years of proven leadership, we are experts in geospatial image processing.
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