Thursday, April 30. 2009

Update: DigitalGlobe Sets Share Prices for IPO

Update: Reuters cites a mid-May IPO date. Satellite Today says May 14. "DigitalGlobe will launch its initial public offering on May 14, when it is scheduled to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "DGI," the company announced April 29."

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in DigitalGlobe, Geospatial Business at 08:48 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, April 23. 2009

GIS Alley

The Coloradoan gives a hat tip to GIS Alley, the cluster of geospatial organizations in Northern Colorado. It references the formal The Rocky Mountain Geospatial Cluster, an initiative founded by the city of Fort Collins and Rocky Mountain Institute in 2007 and its efforts to grow the industry.

The cluster website GIS Alley details the rich history from the area which boasts key contributors to OGC and the founding of the first GIS publication, GIS World.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Geospatial Business at 07:08 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |

Wednesday, April 15. 2009

Update: Google Maps (Finally) Tops Mapquest

Update: Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land notes that Hitwise looks further at the data and notes that while Google Maps has the edge in traffic, MapQuest still has the edge in engagement. That is, folks stay longer at MapQuest (almost 11 minutes to 7.5 at Google Maps). Could it be folks find their answers more directly at Google Maps? Or are more familiar with it and thus more efficient? I for one am slower using MapQuest since I use it far less.

--- original post 4/14/09 ----------
Blumenthals has the stats and graph from Hitwise. Over the weekend Google Maps hit 39.38% of the travel maps category and MapQuest took just 39.14%. Whew, now that that's settled, back to work...

via @NAVTEQ via Twitter

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, MapQuest, Geospatial Business at 10:01 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, April 13. 2009

Korem Acquires Primus Geographics

Today, we learned that Quebec-based Korem has acquired Primus Geographics, a Colorado consulting company that provides location intelligent solutions. The move establishes a US foothold for Korem and broadens the scope of their operations by jump-starting their sales operations among major US corporations that were Primus Geographic clients. Both companies shared many common partnerships with the larger geospatial software and data companies such as Pitney Bowes Business Insight (MapInfo) so the fit appears to be a good match that will smooth the integration of personnel and technology. An official announcement will be made tomorrow.

Posted by Joe Francica in Location Intelligence, Geospatial Business at 12:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

The Oregonian Profiles WeoGeo

It's always nice when the local paper highlights its own - especially when its something a bit out of the normal business space. There's a nice rundown of prices for the library server and the new software as a service offering (still in closed beta). Also, this tidbit about why the startup, now with 10 full time employees, is in Portland.

Why here? The two looked hard for a place to start their company and chose Portland because of its large open source and geocentric communities, and a low rate of employee turnover.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Geospatial Business at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, April 9. 2009

MN State Legislators Ponder Offshore Map Work

Aero-Metric Inc. laid off 10 employees in Maple Grove, MN. That means that aerial maps of nine counties in the state are being made by contractors in India.

State legislators are currently working a bill to spend an additional $5 million of tax money to map at least 41 other counties over the next three years. The outsourcing has caused concern. Rep. Jean Wagenius, DFL-Minneapolis, who is chairwoman of an environmental finance oversight committee says Minnesota money should stay in Minnesota. However, when Rep. Rick Hansen, looked into "a no-outsourcing clause" addition to his bill, House legal counsel told him it would be unconstitutional.

Aero-Metric beat out Woolpert of Dayton, Ohio, which had a lower overall bid after various optional tasks were added to the project. Woolpert would have done the work in the U.S. and raises concerns about sending detailed mapping work outside the country to "foreign countries that do not have the best interests of the United States at heart," per Bob Brinkman, a senior vice president.

- Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Geospatial Business at 08:00 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |