Monday, December 5. 2005

AU-05 - Geography Matters

I asked many attendees whether they preferred the Orlando location to the Las Vegas location. 100% of responses favored Vegas. I have to agree with everyone who used the term “trapped” when speaking of the Disney property. Next year AU is back in Vegas, at the Venetian.

AU-05 - A Site Visit

I rarely go on vendor offered site visits unrelated to geospatial, but I made an exception this year, because the press was invited to see JetBlue’s new training building which houses its cabin and pilot simulators. The building, located at the Orlando Airport, was built using Autodesk products. At first we were told it was built with Architectural Desktop but learned from the architectural firm just AutoCAD was used. More to the point for me, we got to “ride in” the cabin simulator, which feels just like an aircraft, as it lifts off, experiences turbulence, and lands. (In-flight crew members spend about 40 hours in the simulator during initial training and get a refresher each year.) The pilot simulators looked like creatures from a sci-fi movie: large pods on thin hydraulic legs. We were assured they act just like the planes they simulate. The visit was definitely cool, though I didn't feel we learned too much about how Autodesk products made its creation in about 10 months possible.

AU-05 - Where are the Third Party Developers?

The show floor was very active, but the number of dedicated geospatial vendors was very small. Safe, GlobeXplorer, Hitachi and Trimble, topped my list of recognized players, along with several facilities management offerings. Many other more “general” developers, and those involved in surveying, brought the list on the AU website for Infrastructure to 22. I fear Autodesk has eaten up many, many of its former third-party developers. I wonder if the new Web mapping product will bring some back?

AU-05 - MapGuide/MapServer Enterprise Non-event

I found little talk, pro or con, regarding Autodesk’s announcement regarding the new release of Web mapping software being based on open source code. Few people at the event even knew about the announcement, which came out via press release last Monday morning. The topic was only mentioned in passing at the opening session and just a bit more at the Infrastructure Solutions Division industry session. (At that meeting Autodesk did leave a copy of the press release on every seat. Based on my observation there, I don’t think people read press releases left on their seats.) The few people who had heard and understood the announcement didn’t seem phased and expected they’d continue to use Autodesk’s offering of it, expected next year.

AU-05 - DWF is a Platform

This was the story a few years ago, but it seems the DWF team wants to have it more broadly stated. The large red “bouncy balls” in the lake between the Swan and Dolphin hotels said, “DWF Connect the Dots” as did flashing red pins. The team gave out Halloween sized boxes of Dots candy. So, what does “Connect the dots” mean? Apparently, that DWF is a horizontal platform for all industries’ collaboration and data sharing needs.

Wednesday, November 30. 2005

AU-05 - Infrastrcture Solutions Division Industry Session

Charlie Crocker is the new product manager for Map3D. He has 15 years experience, he noted. He shared some underutilized features in Map3D:

Connections
Projections
Organization
Web Publication

It sounded like a sales pitch for tools about which I hope users already knew!

More interesting was the new technology demonstrated, which was not assigned to any particular product but sure looks like the next version of Map. It had a faster display, slicker interface, better labeling (no overposting). Basically, it looks like the old Envision, which some may recall, I loved. It’s apparently being retired.

Bob Bray introduced MapServer Enterprise. The response was underwhelming. Why? I think Autodesk has failed to make it relevant to its existing user base. Said another way, this session did not answer the questions “How will it affect me?” and “Why should I care?” for existing users.