Hexagon Geospatial Launches IGNITE "M.App of the Future" Challenge

Hexagon Geospatial today announced IGNITE -- a first of its kind competition with $260,000 in prizes for innovations that utilize the Hexagon Smart M.App® platform to build dynamic business applications combining fresh location information and powerful analysis to visualize answers to real-world dilemmas.


Open to competitors worldwide, IGNITE utilizes the HeroX crowdsourcing model designed to bring about radical business, technological and social innovation benefitting local and global communities, inspiring new industries and catalyzing markets.

"IGNITE is an opportunity to revolutionize the M.App by expanding beyond the typical geospatial marketplace to encourage mainstream development of solutions that utilize geospatial information to solve global issues," said Hexagon Geospatial President, Mladen Stojic. "Winning ideas will utilize the popular Hexagon Smart M.App platform to connect to timely geospatial information and build elegant solutions that communicate not just what was, but also what is, and what can be. The best solutions will focus on areas that are important to the future and sustainability of our planet and society such as finance, food, safety, infrastructure, health and conservation."

Preparing to Enter the Competition: IGNITE Sessions Competitors can find judging criteria and enter the competition through May 1, 2016 by submitting business plans for innovative ideas at the IGNITE challenge website. Hexagon Geospatial will help participants prepare to enter the competition with a series ofIGNITE Sessions -- one-day workshops with subject matter and Hexagon Smart M.App experts offered globally from February 15 to April 15, 2016.

Judging and Prizes
Twenty finalists will be selected and announced at HxGN LIVE Anaheim, Hexagon's annual international conference in June 2016. Finalists will then have until August 31, 2016 to build, deploy and submit complete, executable Hexagon Smart M.Apps using M.App Studio on the M.App Exchange.

The top 3 finalists will be announced in December, 2016 and awarded the following cash prizes:

• 1st Place: $100K
• 2nd Place: $50K
• 3rd Place: $25K

The remaining 17 finalists will each receive $5,000 prizes for their submissions.

"The HeroX crowdsourcing methodology is ideal for bringing new levels of innovation to exciting and broadly applicable technology like the Hexagon Smart M.App platform," said HeroX CEO, Christian Cotichini. "We are very excited about the launch of the IGNITE challenge. The competition is open to anyone with a great idea for using geospatial information to solve pressing global issues, so we expect hundreds of exceptional entries from all over the world."

About the Hexagon Smart M.App ® The map of the future is not a map. It is a dynamic information experience, a Hexagon Smart M.App. These smart cloud applications employ targeted workflows to distill fresh, geospatial content into 360° business analytics and meaningful visualizations to deliver answers as an online information experience. This game-changing platform is revolutionizing the way we envision, experience and communicate geographic information.

About Hexagon Geospatial Hexagon Geospatial helps you make sense of the dynamically changing world. Hexagon Geospatial provides the software products and platforms to a large variety of customers through direct sales, channel partners and other Hexagon businesses. For more information, visitwww.hexagongeospatial.com or contact us at marketing@hexagongeospatial.com.

Hexagon Geospatial is part of Hexagon, a leading global provider of information technologies that drive quality and productivity improvements across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications. Hexagon's solutions integrate sensors, software, domain knowledge and customer workflows into intelligent information ecosystems that deliver actionable information, automate business processes and improve productivity. They are used in a broad range of vital industries. Hexagon (Nasdaq Stockholm: HEXA B) has more than 16,000 employees in 46 countries and net sales of approximately 3.1bn USD.
Learn more at hexagon.com.

About HeroX http://www.herox.com Founded in 2013, HeroX exists at the intersection of crowdsourcing, competition and collaboration, using each to drive positive change. A suite of tools and services to help spark and build awareness for new solutions to social and economic challenges, the HeroX incentive prize platform connects funding companies and individuals with problem solvers.
Twitter: @Iamherox Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IamHeroX

Image Available:http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/1/6/11G077710/Images/Hex_Geo_IGNITE_Image_wire-b3e7c658bf2db154b8dadffe1172ab11.jpg




Media Contacts: 

Hexagon Geospatial 

Jay Pongonis Communications Manager 

770-776-3489

Email Contact

Lynda Kaye Kaye 

Public Relations for HeroX 

250-266-5293 

Email Contact

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Hexagon Geospatial Automates Property Change Assessments in ERDAS IMAGINE®

Users need automated solutions that are highly effective in helping to accurately predict property changes. By developing this new patent-pending innovation within ERDAS IMAGINE, we have simplified the entire process.




Hexagon Geospatial is pleased to announce it has filed a patent for a new, fully automated Image Change Detection technique in ERDAS IMAGINE that is ideal for property change assessments.

The new patent-pending Image Change Detection technique allows users to automatically compare classification segments generated in property change assessment zones to effectively identify changes that occur over time. The new change detection workflow is delivered as part of the standard ERDAS IMAGINE configuration.

“The property appraisal process can present a host of both business and technical challenges,” said Mladen Stojic, President of Hexagon Geospatial. “Users need automated solutions that are highly effective in helping to accurately predict property changes. By developing this new patent-pending innovation within ERDAS IMAGINE, we have simplified the entire process.”

When comparing imagery captured at different times, users can now perform an analysis on a zone-by-zone basis to determine the extent of change that has occurred in each zone. The results are displayed from the highest probability of change to the lowest, allowing users to easily verify them and generate a comprehensive report.

While the intended audience is property assessors, the change detection technique is ideal for all types of data, making it a universal approach for anything from natural resource applications to defense and intelligence.

Hexagon Geospatial patent titled “Image Change Detection”, application number 14/738,374 was filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office on June 12, 2015.

ABOUT HEXAGON GEOSPATIAL 

Hexagon Geospatial helps you make sense of the dynamically changing world. Known globally as a maker of leading-edge technology, we enable our customers to easily transform their data into actionable information, shortening the lifecycle from the moment of change to action. Hexagon Geospatial provides the software products and platforms to a large variety of customers through direct sales, channel partners, and Hexagon businesses. For more information, visit http://www.hexagongeospatial.com or contact us at marketing@hexagongeospatial.com.

Hexagon Geospatial is part of Hexagon, a leading global provider of information technologies that drive quality and productivity improvements across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications. Hexagon’s solutions integrate sensors, software, domain knowledge and customer workflows into intelligent information ecosystems that deliver actionable information, automate business processes and improve productivity. They are used in a broad range of vital industries. Hexagon has more than 15,000 employees in 46 countries and net sales of approximately 3.1bn USD.

Learn more at hexagon.com.

Contact:

Jason Sims
Hexagon Geospatial
+1 202-262-3340

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Hexagon Geospatial Visualizes Stories with the Hexagon Smart M.App®

"It’s clear that the future lies in the ability to build and deploy highly customizable apps that provide true operational and business value. Hexagon Smart M.Apps is our way of providing a better experience," President of Hexagon Geospatial.



Hexagon Geospatial is pleased to introduce the Hexagon Smart M.App®, providing a new way to understand and share your geospatial experience. These new light-weight applications cohesively combine data, workflows, and analytics. Hexagon Smart M.Apps are creatively designed maps to solve distinct business problems.

“Our world is more dynamic than it has ever been,” said Mladen Stojic, President of Hexagon Geospatial. “As such, we need to think about maps differently. It’s clear that the future lies in the ability to build and deploy highly customizable apps that provide true operational and business value. Hexagon Smart M.Apps is our way of providing a better experience.”

Hexagon Geospatial’s business partner network plays a critical role in the development of these applications. Utilizing components of the M.App Portfolio, business partners design, build and deploy Hexagon Smart M.Apps, using core technologies and tying in key data sources. The company has already announced content sharing programs with Airbus Defence and Space, and BlackSky Global, to integrate current satellite imagery and earth observation data with Hexagon Smart M.Apps development. Hexagon Smart M.Apps will be published to an e-commerce store, broadening their reach and applicability.

“We’ve embarked upon a new, transformative approach to delivering smart applications,” said Stojic. “Our global network of business partners are perfectly poised to understand unique local industry requirements. They are working with customers worldwide to develop applications that leverage our technological strengths, simplifying and customizing the experience for you.”

Business partner Sterling Geo in the UK are early adopters and are heavily involved with Hexagon Smart M.Apps technology. At HxGN LIVE, they shared the story around the urban planning apps that are currently being built or deployed across the UK government community.

“Every moment, it seems there are new thoughts, ideas, and opportunities, and this is exemplified with Hexagon Smart M.Apps,” said Andy Wells, Business Development Manager at Sterling Geo. “To me, this is the single biggest step in our industry and potentially for the application of geospatial data I would say in the last twenty years.”

Hexagon Geospatial is currently signing on new partners interested in participating in the Hexagon Smart M.App program. Find out more athttp://www.hexagongeospatial.com/smartmapp and sign up for a preview. Hexagon Smart M.App and the M.App Portfolio will be officially launched later this year.

About Hexagon Geospatial 

Hexagon Geospatial helps you make sense of the dynamically changing world. Hexagon Geospatial provides software products and platforms to a large variety of customers through direct sales, channel partners and other Hexagon businesses. For more information, visit http://www.hexagongeospatial.com.

Hexagon Geospatial is part of Hexagon, a leading global provider of information technologies that drive quality and productivity improvements across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications. Hexagon’s solutions integrate sensors, software, domain knowledge and customer workflows into intelligent information ecosystems that deliver actionable information, automate business processes and improve productivity. They are used in a broad range of vital industries. Hexagon has more than 15,000 employees in 46 countries and net sales of approximately 3.1bn USD. Learn more at hexagon.com.

© 2015 Hexagon AB and/or its subsidiaries and affiliates. Hexagon and the Hexagon logo are registered trademarks of Hexagon AB or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks or servicemarks used herein are property of their respective owners. Hexagon Geospatial believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. Such information is subject to change without notice.


Contact:


Jason Sims

Hexagon Geospatial
+1 202-262-3340

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Mastering Waves of Data

Hexagon Geospatial and rapidlasso GmbH Partnership





As a result of a recent partnership between Hexagon Geospatial and rapidlasso GmbH, the latest release of rapidlasso´s LAStools contains a new toolbox for ERDAS IMAGINE 2014, with a 2015 release expected this summer. Now, analysts can create Spatial Models within one interface that chain together the operators added by LAStools with the raster and vector operators in ERDAS IMAGINE to create models that describe their specific workflow.





Figure 1: Sample LAStools workflow created with the Spatial Modeler of ERDAS IMAGINE. First a point density raster of the input LAZ is computed for quality checking by 'lasgrid'. Next, the file is ground classified by 'lasground'. Then the “height above ground” of each point is computed by 'lasheight' and used to classify building and vegetation points by 'lasclassify'. Then a 0.5 meter DSM hillshade is produced with 'blast2dem' and a 0.5 meter DTM hillshade is produced by 'las2dem', both in PNG format. Finally, two shapefiles with polygons marking the building footprints and the vegetation areas are computed by 'lasboundary'.



Those who balance out their intense geospatial careers with surfing the world's oceans often describe the moment of catching a wave as feeling absolutely in tune with the forces of nature. As the wave comes closer you paddle and position your board to carve out a niche in the wave using the skills and experiences acquired on numerous waves before. Each wave has its own identity, so you need to adjust your moves to ride a wave to shore. Becoming one with the ocean like that is an incredible experience.

Waves and waves of geospatial data are rolling in on those working in today's geospatial analysis industry. There is not just one but three different kind of data crashing upon our shores: raster, vector, and point cloud data. For a smooth ride during geospatial data analysis, people require multiple and modular software packages that effectively work together. They must be adjusted as needed to synthesize the input streams into one cohesive answer. The ability to edit and classify in the point domain, then run analysis on a raster and feed that information into vector analysis is crucial for making sense of the choppy seas of data and painting the bigger picture our decision-makers need.

Position Yourself in Data Waves
This is where ERDAS IMAGINE Spatial Modeler comes to the rescue. By allowing you to quickly and easily string together geoprocesses in an easy and intuitive fashion, it frees your mind to focus on riding even the biggest geospatial data waves in the most efficient way. It replaces the traditional dialog-driven workflow with modular and customizable pipelines that provide your geospatial senses with a streamlined and repeatable means of getting the answer.

The Spatial Modeler has an extensive library of geo-processing operators that work on all three waves of data. But its real power comes from its extensibility, allowing users and domain experts to add their own operators, including tools from other software. This can be done by running external command line tools within the Spatial Modeler environment, by creating Python operators, or by using the Spatial Modeler SDK to build new operators.

Carving Out Your Niche
That’s why Hexagon Geospatial and rapidlasso GmbH decided to team up. ERDAS IMAGINE is a powerful tool used in the Remote Sensing industry, and LAStools by rapidlasso GmbH is a popular LiDAR processing software suite – a robust collection of extremely efficient, batch-scriptable, multi-core command line tools. Together, we can merge our strengths to simplify the system.

Balancing the daily developments with a few hours of surfing in their secret laboratories in the Philippines, Hexagon Geospatial and rapidlasso GmbH used the inspirations of their exotic location to leverage the extensibility of Spatial Modeler and make the powerful command line tools from LAStools available within the ERDAS IMAGINE Spatial Modeler framework. The latest release of LAStools from rapidlasso GmbH contains a new toolbox for ERDAS IMAGINE 2014, with a 2015 release expected this summer.

Now, analysts can create Spatial Models within one interface that chain together the operators added by LAStools with the raster and vector operators in IMAGINE to create models that describe their specific workflow. These models can then be saved, reused, and shared across departments. They can even be customized so non-technical specialists can use them to adapt as conditions change.

Riding Smooth Whatever Water
This combination makes complete sense. “This kind of partnership is part of a growing strategy to extend the utility of ERDAS IMAGINE and position the Spatial Modeler as a platform to provide our customers with powerful capabilities not supported in ERDAS IMAGINE. Many current ERDAS IMAGINE customers already use LAStools for their Point Cloud processing, and this collaboration provides them—and future customers—with a seamless interaction between point cloud, raster and feature analytics,” said Steve du Plessis, Director of Remote Sensing for Hexagon Geospatial.

“With the huge breadth of ERDAS IMAGINE’s Geospatial users and capabilities we cannot always meet the detailed requirements of our customers. Martin Isenburg has a very close relationship with his user community and provides concise market-driven functionality. This partnership with rapidlasso makes for the perfect mix,” added du Plessis.

Calming Choppy Geospatial Seas
By putting together a platform like the Spatial Modeler and powerful domain tools like LAStools, a system that has long been divided is now unified. The goal is to harmonize different geospatial workflows that have traditionally been separated no matter what waves of data users are exposed to. By simplifying and de-cluttering a workspace, users are allowed to focus on riding their geospatial waves to shore, opening new and innovative moves to unlock the wealth of information locked inside in new and innovative ways.

For more information, have a look at: http://rapidlasso.com and http://hexagongeospatial.com


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