Monday, July 20. 2009

E-mail subject: Invitation to Test Drive Navigation Devices

That was the subject of an e-mail from AUGI (Autodesk User Group International) I received today. I thought: test drive = car, navigation device = GPS. I puzzled: Autodesk no longer has an LBS division and geospatial has been very quiet.... this is very odd! But of course, it referred to a computer navigation device, aka a "mouse" available for a test drive.

Monday, June 22. 2009

Comparing ROI for AutoCAD to that of AutoCAD Map

Cadalyst is hosting an article titled "Road Map to Cost Savings: Calculate ROI to determine the real financial benefits of switching from AutoCAD to Map 3D."

Before plunging in, do note that the author, Marcia Carrillo, "is a researcher and adjunct professor of spatial and visualization information systems at Claremont Graduate University (Claremont, California)" who also does consulting. It's also worth noting that she was US Sales Development Manager Geospatial at Autodesk.

After discussing some "typical" costs and estimated benefits, the article concludes:

With a modest gain of 5-10% on each task performed [data input, data management, data analysis, and deliverables publication] in Map 3D, you will realize a little bit more than two person-years (3,800 hours) at the end of a five-year period. If the average cost is $70 per hour, you will save $266,000 over five years if you move from AutoCAD to Map 3D.

Now, there's no indication in the article that there is a gain of 5-10% in each task, but many of the features of AutoCAD Map are highlighted.

If memory serves, back in the day both Autodesk and Bentley claimed that about 1/3 of their uses of core CAD (AutoCAD or MicroStation) were doing some kind of mapping. Articles like this suggest that a great many are still on those platforms and not yet using CAD-based (or other) GIS solutions.

Friday, May 29. 2009

Update: Does a Vancouver proposal related to open source mean a new GIS?

Update: Passed.

Continue reading "Update: Does a Vancouver proposal related to open source mean a new GIS?"

Friday, May 22. 2009

Autodesk Seeing Positive Signs in Infrastructure Spending

Autodesk (ADSK) released their Q1 2010 results yesterday showing revenues of $426 million, down 29 percent from Q1 2009 but meeting guidance. Carl Bass, CEO, in his call with analysts had a few interesting comments that might indicate that the economy is bottoming out. While many areas of the business are still in decline, the rate has somewhat slowed. In addition, with regard to leveraging stimulus money coming from the U.S. as well as other countries around the world, he had this to say:

Continue reading "Autodesk Seeing Positive Signs in Infrastructure Spending"

Friday, April 17. 2009

JumpTap Offers Mobile AdWords Competitors

The reason I note this launch? JumpTap was one of the companies that selected Autodesk Location Services technology to power its LBS services. ALS is no longer part of Autodesk. The strategic alliance between the two companies was announced Oct 31, 2006.

Wednesday, April 15. 2009

Barron's on ADSK, SGI

I was catching up on my reading of Barron's and came across some interesting financial news pertinent to the geospatial sector. First, I came across the April 13^th editorial by Alan Abelson. If you are not familiar with Abelson, he is, IMHO, the best financial news editor/writer in the business, bar none, because his whit and prose are simply unmatched. Abelson chronicles the whimsical comments by Autodesk (ADSK)CEO Carl Bass where he jokingly referred to Antarctica and Greenland as the only geographies possibly unaffected by the economic downturn. (You can find the exact quotes in my review of that analyst call.)

Abelson goes on to say that, "Besides the pleasure of finding a CEO with a sense of humor and, equally important, one who doesn't suffer foolish questions gladly, the exchange struck us as symptomatic of the insatiable yearning of Wall Street, in general, and sell-side analysts, in particular, to uncover some sliver of bullishness beneath the dismal surface of the unvarnished truth."

If there is an upside to this story, it's that ADSK has recovered to around $18.39 per share up from just under $12 per share during the deepest, darkest downturn last month. In an earlier Barron's there was mention of a recommendation to buy the stock at that low level. Looks like more than a few took their advice (full disclosure, I am a stock holder).

Also in the April 13^th Barron's issue was a small note about the bankruptcy filing of Silicon Graphics. Once the high flyer of high powered workstations for GIS, SGI filed for Chapter 11 on April ^1st. It sold its assets to Rackable Systems (RACK) for $25 million.