Trimble Acquires Telog Instruments for Wireless Water Infrastructure Monitoring and Management

Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today it has acquired privately held Telog Instruments, Inc. based in Victor, New York. Telog is a leader in wireless water infrastructure monitoring and management solutions. The acquisition extends Trimble’s smart water strategy by adding advanced water management technology and productivity solutions to the portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Telog, founded in 1984, manufactures a suite of wireless remote monitoring, analytics and data acquisition systems that are used by thousands of water, wastewater and stormwater management utilities and private contractors throughout North America. Its Telogers family of battery powered, environmentally rugged wireless monitors provide an automated means of collecting, archiving, presenting and sharing data from a wide variety of remote assets such as flowmeters, rain gauges, surcharge sensors, pre-treatment water quality sensors, lift stations and pressure sensors.

Applications for Telog solutions include remote monitoring of flow rates, reservoir and tank levels, water quality, well and groundwater levels, pump station performance, hydrant and valve pressure and sewer overflows. The solutions can also be combined with automated metering infrastructure to provide smart water networks that improve sustainability and water conservation and reduce leakage and non-revenue water. Customers can benefit through improved drinking water quality, lower water loss and leakage, reduced wastewater and stormwater overflows and spills, and enhanced regulatory compliance.

“Trimble remains focused on offering industry leading technology solutions for the water industry,” said Marcus McCarthy, general manager for Trimble’s Water Division. “The acquisition of Telog enables us to expand our portfolio of hardware and software products with industry leading real-time wireless sensors and monitoring solutions. The management of data in real time will provide value to customers facing a growing number of water supply, environmental and regulatory challenges.”

“We are very excited to join Trimble. In addition to the continued focus on supporting our current customers and our core North American market, the acquisition will enable us to grow Telog’s suite of products and expand our global footprint,” said Barry Ceci, founder, president and CEO of Telog. “This is an exciting time for Telog and our customers, who can also benefit from Trimble’s comprehensive portfolio of smart water management solutions.”

About Telog
Telog Instruments, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is an industry leader in wireless water infrastructure monitoring and management sensors and software solutions.

Telog solutions are derived from the combination of telemetry, data logging and information management technologies. The company offers comprehensive water distribution infrastructure monitoring systems and remote monitoring for wastewater collection system operators. Telog’s solutions provide an automated means of collecting, archiving, presenting and sharing data from remote assets such as flowmeters, rain gauges, CSO/SSO surcharge sensors, pre-treatment water quality sensors, lift stations and pressure sensors.

For more information, visit: www.telog.com.

About Trimble’s Water Division
Trimble’s Water Division specializes in field and office solutions for GIS mapping and work management, field data collection, design and inspection, and network management for water, wastewater and stormwater utilities, manufacturers and service providers around the world. Trimble’s solutions integrate advanced positioning, sensors and mapping technologies with software and hardware to automate utility mapping, design, construction and field operations, enabling increased productivity, enhanced regulatory compliance and improved customer service and response.

For more information about Trimble’s Water solutions, visit: www.TrimbleWater.com.

About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring positioning or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user in the field and to ensure communication between the field and the office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

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Goulburn Valley Water Improves Efficiency with Customized GPS Software

Guest article from Trimble.
“To the left of the driveway behind the shed.” Imagine how long it takes to locate the water meter on a property when that’s all the information you have about the meter’s location. Now imagine it has been several years since anyone visited the meter at the property, and the shed no longer exists.
That’s a typical dilemma facing Goulburn Valley Water, a water utility located in Victoria, Australia.

Goulburn Valley Water provides urban water and wastewater services to 121,000 people in 54 towns and cities in an area stretching from the outskirts of Melbourne to the Murray River. With 58,000 water meters spread over 20,000 square kilometers (12,000 square miles), checking water readings and maintaining meters is a time-consuming and costly exercise.

Goulburn Valley Water intends to reduce that cost by accurately capturing the locations of all 58,000 meters, and replacing hard to access meters with meters capable of transmitting readings on water usage. Eventually they hope to have whole towns fitted out with this technology, which will enable the organization to obtain hourly flow data from the meters to gain an accurate snapshot of the water network. They will be able to use this information to track down leaks and other problems in the system, leading to better water conservation and management, as well as savings for customers.

“With this technology we’ll be able to get a snapshot of the network at a particular point in time, whereas at the moment we can’t. It’s physically impossible to read every meter in a town at the same time”, says Noel Squires, Information Systems Manager at Goulburn Valley Water. Currently, meters are read every four months. “That means a customer can have a leak for four months and won’t realize it until they get their next bill. This can result in customers paying for water they’re not actually using,” says Squires.

The first step in the project is to find all of the existing meters and record an accurate location so that they can find them again. To do this, Goulburn Valley Water equipped their meter reader field crew with Trimble® GeoExplorer® 2008 series GeoXH™ handhelds and Zephyr™ antennas mounted on rangepoles. They chose GeoXH handhelds because they wanted the most accurate and reliable solution possible. Initially they chose a more complicated GIS data collection solution to run on the handhelds but as the meter readers are not GIS experts they were unable to collect the data they needed quickly and accurately. “It was too complicated. It’s not what they [meter readers] do. We quickly realized it wasn’t something we could just hand over.”

After discussing the problem with the staff at Ultimate Positioning, their Trimble reseller, Goulburn Valley Water was advised to approach Thinking Windows, a software development company dedicated to providing billing solutions to the water industry. Thinking Windows was the obvious partner, as Goulburn Valley Water was already using their AquaRate software. What Goulburn Valley Water needed was additional GPS positioning functionality within the AquaRate software, and the Trimble GPS Pathfinder® Tools Software Development Kit (SDK) provided these tools.

The GPS Pathfinder Tools SDK provides a complete Application Programming Interface (API) that enables third-party developers to integrate GPS functionality into a software program. With just three developers, Thinking Windows was able to use the SDK to produce a reliable application that they named Aquire, for Goulburn Valley Water in just four months. Steve Tearle, Director of Thinking Windows, believes the SDK’s robust API was critical to the team’s success: “It was vital. We wouldn’t have attempted it [the project] otherwise.”

Writing applications for the Windows Mobile® operating system is complex and best practices must be employed, especially for managing memory, to ensure reliable software. The GPS Pathfinder Tools SDK is an example of leveraging these best practices. “We could develop the business application without worrying about low-level coding because the class library provided was so good. You can see this in the field because the end application is so robust” says Tearle. The result is a professional software product that meets the needs of their customer. The Thinking Windows team even provided full product documentation, including help files and training materials.

The Aquire software was a tremendous success for Goulburn Valley Water. With it, the organization is now considering changing the meter reading process so that the meter reader picks up the location of the meter as well as the actual reading. Instead of a complicated user interface, meter readers simply see a big green button on the screen that says “Start”. The training time for the new software is just one hour, and meter readers feel much more confident and are happy to use it.

The faster data collection process is expected to result in real savings for the utility: “Every time you save five seconds, you can multiply that by 58,000” explains Squires. Previously, Goulburn Valley Water used pen and paper to record meter readings and then each meter reader spent up to one and a half hours traveling back to the office to deliver the paper forms. Originally, the organization envisaged hiring two additional staff: one person to coordinate loading the handhelds with data and then postprocessing the data, and another as an additional meter reader. The custom solution meant those two additional staff were not required, potentially saving Goulburn Valley Water ongoing salary and training costs. Instead of having a coordinator in the office, Thinking Windows was able to customize the AquaRate software to send information related to groups of meters to the handheld, which mimic the walk route sequence the meter reader uses. Hence data is collected using the most efficient route, saving time in the field. Using a web service, up to 1000 meters per route sequence are exported to the handheld via a web service from the AquaRate billing system, which uses a Microsoft SQL Server database. At the end of each day, each meter reader sends the data to the office using the GeoXH handheld’s integrated Wi-Fi radio to connect straight to the internet from their home–saving them up to one and a half hours’ travel time each day. The data from their route is uploaded via the web service back to AquaRate, complete with uncorrected position information. AquaRate then uses the GPS Pathfinder Office software to postprocess the position data.

Recently the Thinking Windows team added laser rangefinder support to their Aquire software. The handheld is connected to the laser rangefinder using a Bluetooth® wireless technology. When a meter is located in a spot where GPS signals cannot be received, the meter reader uses a laser rangefinder to “shoot” the position from a known GPS location. Once again, the software user interface has been kept simple, with the addition of a single button to take the laser reading and automatically send the data wirelessly from the laser rangefinder to the handheld.

Goulburn Valley Water is also looking forward to the long term benefits offered by this solution. Over time each meter is intended to be replaced with an RF-enabled meter, which can transmit water usage to a “collector”, an RF-enabled device which collects the data from all water meters within a range of 200–300 meters (650–1000 feet) and sends the information back to the office. The GPS location data they are collecting now will be crucial in designing the network and deciding the most efficient location for each “collector” to be installed.

Satisfied with their meter location solution, Goulburn Valley Water is now contemplating other uses of high accuracy GIS data. The GPS Pathfinder Tools SDK is likely to be an integral part of any future solution, as it enables the simplification of data collection, allowing field crews to stay productive. “You never know when there’s something you’re going to need the location of” says Squires. He too, believes the GPS Pathfinder Tools SDK has been crucial to their success: “It’s the Swiss Army knife of GPS. It’s brilliant!”
Project Summary:

PROJECT: Field Application Development with Pathfinder Tools SDK for Mapping and Reading Water Meters

PROJECT DATE: June 2010

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Mapping 58,000 meters and collecting monthly water usage readings
Custom GPS Pathfinder Tools SDK application makes data collection fast and easy
Wireless data transfer significantly reduces time and fuel costs
Accurate GPS locations will result in better, more efficient network design

THE EQUIPMENT USED ON THIS PROJECT INCLUDES

• GeoExplorer 2008 series handhelds

• GPS Pathfinder Tools Software Development Kit (SDK)

• GPS Pathfinder Office software

• Zephyr antenna

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Trimble Acquires Spatial Dimension to Expand its Enterprise Land Management Solutions for Government and Private Industries

Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) announced today that it has acquired privately held Spatial Dimension headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with subsidiaries in South Africa, Braziland Australia. Spatial Dimension's FlexiCadastre software is an enterprise scale land management solution adopted by leading mining companies and governments worldwide. The addition of FlexiCadastre broadens Trimble's land administration portfolio and ability to serve customers in both the public and private sectors across the mining, oil and gas, and forestry industries. Financial terms were not disclosed.



Launched by Spatial Dimension in 2003, FlexiCadastre is used by private and public organizations to manage their land-related business processes, obligations and compliance in over 100 jurisdictions globally. FlexiCadastre uses a workflow-centric and spatially-enabled approach to provide a scalable, enterprise ready and integrated solution to drive the efficient administration of mineral rights and contracts across multiple global jurisdictions. Through consultation, implementation and support, Spatial Dimension's FlexiCadastre solution has been successfully deployed across hundreds of land management projects for clients such as the World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), government agencies and private sector companies around the world, including most of the world's largest mining companies.

"Spatial Dimension's strong position and proven expertise implementing land management solutions further expands Trimble's reach into the land administration market," said Matt Delano, business area director for Trimble's Land Administration solutions. "The acquisition of Spatial Dimension strengthens Trimble's portfolio for governments while expanding our customer base through land management solutions for industry and commercial-based applications."

"We are very excited to join Trimble. We share Trimble's vision of leveraging emerging geospatial technologies to solve our customer's challenges across a number of industries," said Bill Feast, chief executive officer of Spatial Dimension. "In addition to the continued focus on customer support and our core market, the acquisition will enable us to expand FlexiCadastre's global reach to address adjacent markets. This is truly an exciting time for Spatial Dimension and our customers, who can also benefit from Trimble's comprehensive portfolio of hardware and software solutions."

For more information about Spatial Dimension, visit:http://www.spatialdimension.com.

About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

Certain statements made in this press release are forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual events and results may differ materially from those described in this news release.Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, Trimble's ability to successfully extend and improve its land administration solutions through the acquisition of Spatial Dimension's FlexiCadastre. Additional risks and uncertainties include: the risks inherent in integrating an acquisition; unanticipated expenditures, charges or assumed liabilities that may result from the acquisition; and retaining key personneland commercial relationships. Information about potential factors which could affect Trimble's business and financial results is set forth in reports filed with the SEC, including Trimble's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K. All forward looking statements are based on information available to Trimble as of the date hereof, and Trimble assumes no obligation to update such statements.

GTRMB



SOURCE Trimble
Contact:
Trimble
Spatial Dimension
Lea Ann McNabb, Media
Phone: +1 408-481-7808
Email Contact
Web: http://www.trimble.com

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Trimble Introduces New High-Speed Data Communications Link for Industrial Applications

High-Speed, Wireless Data Link Provides High Level of Performance



Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) introduced today the new Trimble® TMR1 data link, an advanced, software-defined industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio band, networked transceiver providing license-free wireless communications around the world. The TMR1 data link offers dual-frequency operation with 902-928 and 865-870 MHz, available throughput up to 2.6 Mbps, and range as high as 70 miles (approximately 110 kilometers). With the seamless integration of serial and Ethernet, coupled with the high throughput, video can easily be streamed across the data links or sensors such as flowmeters or temperature/pressure gauges can be installed for continuous Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and monitoring applications. The TMR1 data link is ideal for a broad range of industrial control applications including electric utilities, water/wastewater management, machine control for agriculture and construction.

The Trimble TMR1 data link supports both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint network topologies. Unlike the majority of networked radios in the marketplace, the Trimble TMR1 supports multiple speed/modulation pairs within a single network while selecting the optimal speed for each individual remote radio. This unique capability automatically adapts to changing signal and noise levels by selecting the highest link rate/modulation pair maintainable for each individual radio link without forcing the entire network to operate at the speed of the slowest link. This allows the entire network to run at the highest speed possible despite changing noise levels and radio locations.

The Trimble TMR1 data link is equipped with dual data ports for simultaneous communication with both TCP/IP and serial port devices in the same network. An easy-to-use Web interface allows management across the entire network. To secure communications, all links are protected by Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) data encryption, Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) segregation, password authentication and Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) technology.

“Trimble is committed to developing next-generation, industrial communication products that meet our customer’s needs and provide advanced worksite connectivity options to enhance Trimble’s solutions as well as third-party applications,” said Jess Cobb, business area director for Trimble’s Wireless Infrastructure Group. “The Trimble TMR1 data link is an ideal, secure, high-speed radio transceiver for field operations that can deliver connectivity in the harshest environments, from mines and construction sites to agriculture and oil fields.”

Availability
The new Trimble TMR1 data link is available in a sealed, highly vibration-tolerant enclosure and as a board-level module for system integrators. Both the TMR1 Enclosed and the TMR1 Board Level are available now through Trimble’s Integrated Technologies Wireless Infrastructure international dealer network.

About Trimble Integrated Technologies Division
Trimble’s Integrated Technologies Division is a leading provider of high-precision OEM GNSS modules for positioning and navigation solutions as well as intelligent, robust wireless infrastructure products that serve a broad cross-section of major markets including survey, port automation, autonomous vehicle guidance, marine, agriculture, construction, robotics, mining, utilities and others. Complete, out-of-the-box data transmission products provide simple to deploy, scalable products that add value to businesses, while reducing costs. Easy to integrate radio and high-precision GNSS modules offer OEMs and system integrators the ability to differentiate their products and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

For more information, visit: InTech.trimble.com.

About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

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Trimble Takes Flight with New Multirotor Unmanned Aircraft System

Latest Addition to UAS Portfolio Makes Working in Tight Spaces Easy



Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) announced today the ZX5 Multirotor Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), a new aerial imaging and workflow solution that captures and processes geo-referenced photo and video data for mapping, agriculture and inspection applications. The Trimble® ZX5 complements the UAS portfolio with the ability to reach smaller, remote environments faster, while providing accurate mapping data for improved productivity in the field and back office.


"Unmanned aerial systems are powerful tools that are transforming geospatial-based mapping and inspection applications to positively impact our world," said Todd Steiner, product marketing director in Trimble's Geospatial Division. "Adding a multirotor solution to our portfolio provides options for our customers working across multiple environments to collect accurate spatial data, transform it to intelligence and create deliverables."

With the ZX5, Trimble extends its unmanned aerial portfolio to include both fixed-wing and multirotor solutions, providing customers with a choice to meet their specific requirements. Trimble's fixed-wing UX5 provides longer flight capabilities for large, open environments including farms, mines, canals, flood areas and forests – while the ZX5 is more suited for mapping smaller sites, including facades, obstructed areas, construction sites and standard aerial mapping applications.

The ZX5 Multirotor is built for everyday jobs where image capture from tight spaces is common. Its vertical takeoff and landing capabilities allow users to work in tight places and obstructed environments where fixed-wing solutions are less suitable. It requires no launcher, is easy to assemble and includes everything needed to capture high-quality geo-referenced photos for aerial mapping and inspection applications.

The ZX5 includes a 16 megapixel camera to capture high-quality aerial imagery, down to 1 mm ground sample distance. The ZX5 also can be equipped to capture live video imagery for civil infrastructure, utility and oil and gas pipeline inspections.

Data captured by the ZX5 can be imported into Trimble Business Center Photogrammetry Module software to create detailed ortho-photos, digital elevation models, point clouds, volume calculations and 3D models, all without requiring specialized photogrammetry knowledge or experience. It also integrates with Trimble's state-of-the-art Inpho® UASMaster module for advanced photogrammetric processing.

In addition, the Trimble ZX5 has been granted a Section 333 exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Training Partner
Trimble also selected Juniper Unmanned as an official training services provider for Trimble's UAS products. In this role, Juniper will provide classroom and field training for Trimble UAS customers worldwide.

Availability
The ZX5 is available now through Trimble's Geospatial Distribution Channel. To learn more about Trimble's portfolio of unmanned aerial solutions, visit: http://uas.trimble.com.

About Trimble's Geospatial Division
Trimble's Geospatial Division provides solutions that facilitate high-quality, productive workflows and information exchange, driving value for a global and diverse customer base of surveyors, engineering and GIS service companies, governments, utilities and transportation authorities. Trimble's innovative technologies include integrated sensors, field applications, real-time communications, field-to-office processing and software for modeling and data analytics. Using Trimble solutions organizations capture the most accurate spatial data and transform it into intelligence to deliver increased productivity and improved decision-making. Whether it's more efficient use of natural resources or extending the life of civil infrastructure, reliable information is at the core of Trimble's solutions to transform the way work is done.

For more information, visit:https://www.trimble.com/Industries/Geospatial/index.aspx.

About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

GTRMB


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Trimble Launches VRS Now Service in Georgia

Accurate and Reliable Centimeter-Level GNSS Performance for Geospatial Professionals


Trimble announced today the launch of Trimble® VRS Now™ correction service in Georgia. The commercial subscription service provides surveyors, civil engineers, and geospatial professionals in the region with instant access to Real-time Kinematic (RTK) Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) corrections without the need for a base station.

Using both the GPS and GLONASS constellations, the Trimble service delivers centimeter-level RTK corrections customized for each GNSS receiver's location anywhere in the network via cellular communications. The Trimble VRS Now service supplies accurate, reliable and easy-to-use GNSS positioning for a variety of applications including surveying, urban planning, urban and rural construction, environmental monitoring, resource and territory management, disaster prevention and relief, and scientific research.

“As we continue to expand our VRS Now network throughout the U.S., we’re excited to offer users in Georgia state-of-the-art VRS correction services powered by the latest Trimble infrastructure technology,” said Lisa Wetherbee, business area director of Trimble’s Positioning Services Division. “Now seamless coverage is available across Georgia, Alabama and Florida providing customers with reliable centimeter-level accuracy and the flexibility to work more freely across a larger tri-state coverage area.”

Service in Georgia is a continuation of Trimble’s focus on providing solutions that enable customers to increase productivity by simplifying access to high-precision positioning around the world. Similar VRS Now services are operating in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Oregon, New Mexico and parts of Europe and Australia.

About Trimble VRS Now
Trimble VRS Now offers instant access to centimeter-level positioning tailored to the users’ geographic location; the service is always on wherever and whenever they need it within the network coverage area. With no base station or setup required, it is cost effective, efficient and simple to use. VRS Now provides positioning professionals with instant access to Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) and Post-Processing (PP) corrections utilizing a network of permanent (fixed) continuously operating reference stations (CORS). Trimble VRS Now can deliver an initialization time of less than 1 minute, enabling work to begin quickly. Professional management and monitoring 24/7 by a global operations team provides peak performance and high reliability.

Availability

Coverage is now available throughout the majority of Georgia, with a state-wide network expected to be complete by the end of third quarter of 2015. Subscriptions are available now through Trimble’s Authorized Business Partners or Trimble’s online store at: tpsstore.trimble.com. To learn more, go to: www.trimble.com/positioning-services.

About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

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Trimble Launches VRS Now Service in New Mexico

Accurate and Reliable Centimeter-Level GNSS Performance for Geospatial Professionals





Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today the launch of Trimble® VRS Now™ correction service in New Mexico. The commercial subscription service provides surveyors, civil engineers and geospatial professionals in the region with instant access to Real-time Kinematic (RTK) Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) corrections without the need for a base station.

Using both the GPS and GLONASS constellations, the Trimble service delivers centimeter-level RTK corrections customized for each GNSS receiver's location anywhere in the network via cellular communications. The Trimble VRS Now service supplies accurate, reliable and easy-to-use GNSS positioning for a variety of applications including surveying, urban planning, urban and rural construction, environmental monitoring, resource and territory management, disaster prevention and relief and scientific research.

“As we continue to expand our VRS Now network infrastructure throughout the U.S., users in New Mexico now have increased reliability from both GPS and GLONASS corrections to enhance their work,” said Lisa Wetherbee, business area director of Trimble’s Positioning Services Division. “Our suite of correction services offers a variety of performance options, designed to meet the different requirements and budgets of our customers. VRS Now in New Mexico delivers centimeter-level accuracy to a wide range of industry professionals.”

Service in New Mexico is a continuation of Trimble’s focus on providing solutions that enable customers to increase productivity by simplifying access to high-precision positioning around the world. Similar VRS Now services are operating in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Oregon and parts of Europe and Australia.

About Trimble VRS Now

Trimble VRS Now offers instant access to centimeter-level positioning tailored to the users’ geographic location; the service is always on wherever and whenever they need it within the network coverage area. With no base station or setup required, it is cost effective, efficient and simple to use. VRS Now provides positioning professionals with instant access to Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) and Post-Processing (PP) corrections utilizing a network of permanent (fixed) continuously operating reference stations (CORS). Trimble VRS Now can deliver an initialization time of less than 1 minute, enabling work to begin quickly. Professional management and monitoring 24/7 by a global operations team provides peak performance and high reliability.

Availability

Trimble VRS Now New Mexico subscriptions are available now through Trimble’s Authorized Business Partners or Trimble’s online store at: tpsstore.trimble.com. To learn more, go to: www.trimble.com/positioning-services.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.



Contact:

Trimble Navigation,
935 Stewart Drive,
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
United States

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From the Exhibit Floor: Esri User Conference 2015

By Susan Smith

A look at what is being demonstrated on the Exhibit Floor is a great way to see what is trending in the geospatial industry. Location, navigation, GIS positioning, sensors, geospatial intelligence, UAS, 3D, emergency response are just a few of the areas covered in the vast offerings seen throughout the week.

I met with Darren Cottage, vice president Sales and Marketing Geospatial and Traffic, Government sales manager, Kenneth Clay, and North American marketing manager and John Cassidy, general manager, NA Sales & Marketing, Geospatial and Traffic of TomTom to discuss the company’s direction, which included their work with various partners, including Esri, Maponics and CarahSoft.

Announced at the conference was the addition of TomTom’s navigable maps for 13 new countries. TomTom provides traffic content in 134 countries around the globe. TomTom also announced that its map and traffic information had been chosen by the University of Minnesota’s Accessibility Observatory as part of a new national accessibility data set. They will provide map and historical speed data to help analyze accessibility to jobs for driving and transit for metropolitan areas across the U.S.

The analysis of where people live and where jobs are is multimodal, according to Cassidy, and research is done leveraging TomTom’s strategy around the connected world.

TomTom is providing real time GIS data for many application, including for emergency GIS, and they also do pedestrian mapping and indoor mapping.

TomTom products are designed for a lot of consumer devices but also in car navigation, and in geospatial applications such as emergency response.

Clay, who presented on indoor mapping a new focus for TomTom, said that half a dozen of cities are available for demonstration of stadiums, big facilities, and retail establishments

TomTom maps are used to manage where ATM machines are, and for their maintenance. They are also addressing multiple locations for an address, sewer hookup, delivery, and consumer needs. They are also using the advanced city models of startup SmartBetterCities tied into the Esri Story Map template.

TomTom is providing traffic analysis for the Pan American games in Toronto. They also supported the London Olympics and support autonomous vehicle technology.

PinPoint-GIS from Septentrio

The company Septentrio has been around since 2000, and the recently acquired Altus Positioning Systems since 2008. Altus is the supplier of GNSS positioning and surveying systems and GIS, who recently merged with Septentrio, a company known for their work on Galileo, subcontracted to the European Space Agency in Leuven, Belgium.

Septentrio is a spinoff of a university electronics program, IMEC, the Center for NanoTechnology Unit. Their history in research has now evolved into creating scientific receivers for timing and scintillated, signal processing. Meanwhile Septentrio has expanded in the survey and GIS markets. Neil Vancans, vice president of Septentrio, said that they have a channel for surveying developed but there has been no channel for GIS. In Europe there is a channel for both.

Altus Positioning Systems provides simple, affordable high precision receivers that can be used in any tablet as a browser, and can publish into ArcGIS.

Septentrio announced a new software suite called PinPoint-GIS which makes GIS data collection and visualization straightforward. Septentrio’s PinPoint-GIS provides several methods of data collection, based on a standard web browser hosted on the Altus APS-NR2 and a mobile app integrated with Esri’s ArcGIS or other GIS mapping systems.

SAP is known worldwide as a leading provider of business applications, ERP, CRM solutions. With their SAP HANA they provide spatial information of which Hinnerk Gildhoff, Development Manager, SAP HANA/Spatial says 80% is geospatial. At Esri the company announced new capabilities to turbocharge spatial intelligence by simplifying, accelerating and geo-enabling access to enterprise.

“We aim to transform the big apps trend to real time apps, to take action where the data is,” said Gildhoff.

HANA is designed to help break down silos between enterprise and GIS system, and do analytics on a single system. It is an end-to-end platform for running applications. It has engines for running predictive analytics, can do unstructured data mining from Facebook and other social media and can provide geospatial capabilities.

HANA connects ArcGIS and HANA through SBS10 to provide feature services support. Using ArcGIS Server to publish feature services. New functionality includes spatial engine, altitude measurement, time, M-value, and transformation function. The latest release also enhances in-memory spatial processing capabilities to deliver faster responses for millions of data points.

Gildhoff said all applications in SAP are going spatial using the HANA processor as a spatial engine. The SAP Work Manager mobile app has added Esri feature layer integration and offline mapping capabilities.

More on the SAP HANA announcement can be found here

Trimble FieldIQ

In meeting with director of Strategy and Corporate Development, Chris Stern of Trimble, he spoke about how Trimble meets “industry specific challenges” through its core technologies and products. Esri, with whom Trimble has partnered for over 20 years, is organized more around vertical sectors. The two organizations share many joint customers. Their services and solutions include point data collection, mass data collection, aerial and ground based scanning, sensors, point clouds and imagery and integrated industry specific solutions.

Trimble is very focused on Big Data and the Internet of Things with sensors, laser scanning, and optical, bringing in major data this way. The new version of their UAS the UX5 and UX5 HP is a fixed wing unmanned aerial mapping system and the company showcased its new multi-rotor copter that can hover. It is useful for electric transmission inspection, emergency response, and damage reconnaissance. The UX5 and UX5 HP offer aerial data collection by offering complete systems with powerful technologies such as a robust design, a radically simplified workflow and reversed thrust and automatic failsafe procedures.

Trimble’s software eCognition takes content, extracts features and makes datasets. The company has an underlying set of software to access Esri. eCognition addresses the increased demand for 3D data.

“We’ve always been 3D, helping customers collect highly accurate X,Y and Z data and 3D models,” said Stern. “Now there is 3D in ArcGIS Pro and CityEngine. We have Trimble SketchUp 3D Design and the 3D Warehouse – the world’s largest online catalogue of 3D content.”

Stern talked about ArcGIS Earth and the fact that Trimble has 3D already. They have centimeter accuracy in the Trimble V10 imaging rover, with 12 integrated 60MP cameras taking in 360 degree views.

In the Trimble Business Center software, as part of a new feature set, the 360 degree image comes in, the user clicks on a point at the pixel level, and based on the original position, can give you distance of measurements.

Trimble UX5

Another feature is that when imagery is brought in, a set of measurements can be taken specifically for UAS.

With the new Trimble R1 receiver, one of Trimble’s newly introduced line of BYOD GNSS products, users go to the field with the phone with an IOS or Android smartphone or tablet with Trimble Terraflex software – for fast, efficient, geospatial data collection across a fleet of mixed devices that supports submeter accuracy. Their Spectra Precision MobileMapper 300 takes advantage of RTX mobile positioning to achieve centimeter accuracy with Android devices. The goal of these products is to achieve less scientific access to accurate data.

Trimble also introduced at the conference the latest version of its smart water mapping and work management cloud software, Trimble Unity version 2.0. According to company materials, the version adds new capabilities to support complex water, wastewater and stormwater industry asset maintenance planning and work execution workflows. The new release supports Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) GNSS mapping receivers for smart devices and cloud-based single sign-on integration with Esri ArcGIS Online.

Utility customers can search and organize various utility assets, including meters, pipelines, valves and hydrants with Trimble Unity version 2.0 advanced asset maintenance capabilities. These assets can be grouped into prioritized collections of work that can be assigned to crews for completion. The new features enable utilities to reduce the time and cost associated with water asset repair and installation work.

Stern noted that the new Esri GeoCollector includes Esri software of course, and Esri has added Trimble’s R1 and some other Trimble technologies to their offerings.

Summing up, Stern said that Trimble’s core technologies include hardware, software, and positioning/sensors. “We always bring all that together to help customers solve problems across a variety of industries,” he said.

Expanded Portfolio of Geospatial Solutions from Trimble

HERE Intelligent Driving – Traffic probe data combined with sensor technology can make driving safer

The company HERE, Maps for Life, formerly NAVTEQ three years ago, is a Nokia business unit that brings together Nokia’s mapping and location businesses under one umbrella. HERE technology is based on cloud computing, where location data and services are stored on remote servers. Users can access the data on any device.

HERE provides new vector-based data for Esri’s StreetMap brand of mapping products. HERE captures location content that includes road networks, buildings, park and traffic patterns. It licenses or sells that content along with navigation services and location based solutions to other businesses.

HERE has maps in nearly 200 countries, offers voice guided navigation in 94 countries, provides live traffic information in 33 countries and has indoor maps available for about 49,000 unique buildings in 45 countries.

Reality Capture Solutions from Leica Geosystems

Outside the convention center on a trailer was the Leica Geosystems Pegasus: Stream which is said to “measure the invisible.” It is a reality capturing sensor platform for below and above ground mass feature digitization.

Startup Zone
Esri Start up companies who are called “emerging partners” were celebrated at a media event on Monday evening during the Map Gallery. Over 50 startups were exhibiting at the conference. Working with the Esri Startup team, TomTom built a premium content offering for large volume geocoding and routing called “StreetMap Premium for Startups,” a steeply discounted product designed just for those inside the Esri Startup Program.

MetroTech is partnering with both OSI and Esri to aggregate real-time traffic data, apply analytics and publish information that users can use to make decisions. Senior vice president of sales and service delivery, Robert Bruckner, says that traffic is “stuck in the 90s’ technology,” and that MetroTech provides the next generation of traffic analytics.

SenseFly’s eBee mapping drones were exhibited on the main Exhibit Floor but were considered in startup category. The various Styrofoam-appearing eBee models are very lightweight and come in various designs. The eMotion 3D mission planning feature takes elevation data into account when setting altitude of waypoints and resulting flight lines. The models are lightweight so they cannot damage other flying objects or electrical lines. Models are flown by computer, and one is battery operated on an SD card. You can use eBee’s postflight Terra 3D software to process your flight’s photos. In just a few clicks you can transform this imagery into geo-referenced 2D orthomosaics, 3D point clouds, triangle models and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs).

DroneDeploy is a simple cloud based software that allows anyone to create on-demand aerial drone maps in a single click.

Kespry designs a commercial-grade drone system that autonomously collects and analyzes high resolution geospatial information. It is very fast, with fully interconnected software included. It comes with an iPad, drone, limited access to Kespry cloud, and a groundstation. It is 3D printed and made of milled aluminum.

Echosec

Another interesting startup is Echosec, a new location based social media search platform owned by a Russian organization, designed to provide intelligence to public safety, security professionals, marketing, law enforcement, security and governments using crowdsourced data. It can provide actionable information on terror attacks, and law enforcement can see where tweets and Facebook posts are coming from in trying to solve crimes.

MapJam really appeals to media and publishing as well as commercial business with its next generation location mapping platform to empower brands to create and distribute customized maps with contextualized information.

SmartBetterCities (mentioned above in the section on TomTom) offers easy to use 3D software built on ArcGIS for the creation and management of 3D cities. They call this product “CloudCities” and it allows you to configure dashboards online, drag in charts and building data. It can also host a library of scenes such as those from CityEngine and ArcGIS Pro.

FireWhat?

FireWhat? emergency disaster response for wildfires was mentioned in Monday’s plenary session during the segment on “Fire.” The application uses real-time GIS with expert sourced information specifically for fires.

Pufferfish Puffersphere

Pufferfish has created the Puffersphere, a globe that allows you to display digital content in a 3D way, on a globe, using 360 degree video. You can use the basic finger gestures of pinch and push to expand an area or retract it to zoom in or out of a desired geographic location. This is valuable for marketing and advertising, digital display and potentially many other uses where traditional flat screen media just isn’t enough.

Summary
Well established vendors’ offerings continue to push the envelope, making the most of the cloud, actionable intelligence, open source and real-time data to address the most pressing challenges of environment, safety, health and security. Startups arrive on the scene with less legacy baggage that allows them to negotiate the quick paced technology scene with enviable ease. There is a buoyancy to their presentations and enthusiasm that the larger vendors seek and embrace, and will I’m sure make its way into many future major product and application offerings.

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Trimble Unity Software for Water Utilities Adds Support for Advanced Asset Maintenance, BYOD GNSS Receivers and Esri ArcGIS Online

(PRNewswire) — Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) introduced today the latest version of its smart water mapping and work management cloud software—Trimble® Unity™ version 2.0. The version adds new capabilities to support complex water, wastewater and stormwater industry asset maintenance planning and work execution workflows, support for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) GNSS mapping receivers for smart devices and cloud-based single sign-on integration with Esri ArcGIS Online.



Trimble Unity version 2.0 features advanced asset maintenance capabilities that allow utility customers to quickly search and group various types of utility assets, including meters, pipelines, valves and hydrants, into prioritized collections of work that can be easily assigned to crews for completion. The new features enable utilities to reduce the time and cost associated with water asset repair and installation work.

Version 2.0 adds support for the latest Trimble and Spectra Precision® BYOD GNSS mapping receivers to provide customers with new options for mapping and locating utility assets and keeping their GIS up-to-date and accurate using iOS, Android or Windows® mobile handhelds, smart phones and tablets. Utility mobile workers can now connect their mobile devices via Bluetooth® technology to the Trimble R1 GNSS receiver, a BYOD GNSS receiver with sub-meter accuracy, or the Spectra Precision MobileMapper® 300 receiver that supports up to centimeter-level accuracy.

In addition, Trimble Unity version 2.0 leverages the Esri ArcGIS platform across the product. It provides support for Esri Web map technology and adds single sign-on functionality that enables licensed Esri ArcGIS Online customers to use their Esri login credentials to sign-in and use the full capabilities of their Trimble Unity version 2.0 software.

"Water utility workers in the field have a wide variety of products they use on a daily basis, so we've designed Trimble Unity version 2.0 to be compatible with a broad range of devices—including Trimble handhelds and iOS, Android and Windows smartphones and tablets. The new version allows customers to use their mobile device of choice with a robust software solution for asset maintenance workflows that supports high-accuracy mapping and location. The addition of the Esri ArcGIS Web map and single sign-on integration also enables customers using Esri GIS to leverage their GIS investment and easily deploy Trimble Unity throughout their organization," said Rami Naber, product manager for Trimble Water.

Trimble Unity Software

Trimble Unity offers a unified cloud-based and mobile collaboration platform for smart water mapping and work management. The software is designed to automate a variety of industry workflows through individual "apps" offered within the software suite, enabling utilities to deploy smart meters, assess the condition of assets, repair leaks and reduce non-revenue water (NRW), and locate and map critical infrastructure using Trimble high-accuracy GNSS mapping technologies. The software can also assist utilities in reducing spills and environmental damage, extending the life of aging assets and enabling improve worker safety and productivity. For additional information visit: www.TrimbleUnity.com.

Trimble R1 GNSS Receiver

The Trimble R1 GNSS receiver is a rugged, pocket-sized GNSS receiver that provides sub-meter precision to users of any Bluetooth connected mobile device, including iOS, Android and Windows mobile smartphones, tablets, or more traditional integrated data collection tools such as a Trimble handheld computer. The R1 GNSS receiver supports multiple GNSS constellations, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and BeiDou, to provide a truly global solution. The R1 GNSS receiver includes the ability to utilize Satellite Based Augmentation Services (SBAS), Trimble ViewPoint™ RTX or, Virtual Reference Station (VRS) correction sources to suit the location and business requirements. For additional information visit: www.TrimbleWater.com/r1.html.

Spectra Precision MobileMapper 300

The Spectra Precision MobileMapper 300 GNSS receiver is controlled with a wide variety of Android smartphones, tablets or notebook computers and allows users to collect high-accuracy location information, which is significantly more accurate than the device's internal GPS. The MobileMapper 300 is available in three levels of precision, so users can determine the best value for their project requirement. A full-precision model is available that uses Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) or Virtual Reference Station (VRS) technology to achieve centimeter positioning in 3D. This is a powerful solution for mapping gravity-networks such as storm and wastewater systems. For additional information visit: www.TrimbleWater.com/mm300.html.

Availability

Trimble Unity version 2.0 is available now from Trimble's Water Division and its authorized distribution partners. The Trimble R1 GNSS receiver and Spectra Precision MobileMapper 300 are available now.

About Trimble's Water Division

Trimble's Water Division specializes in field and office solutions for GIS mapping and work management, field data collection, design and inspection, and network management for water, wastewater and stormwater utilities, manufacturers and service providers around the world. Trimble's solutions integrate advanced positioning, sensors and mapping technologies with software and hardware to automate utility mapping, design, construction and field operations, enabling increased productivity, enhanced regulatory compliance and improved customer service and response.

For more information about Trimble's Water solutions, visit: www.TrimbleWater.com.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring positioning or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user in the field and to ensure communication between the field and the office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

GTRMB

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Trimble joins LASzip sponsors USACE, NOAA, and Quantum Spatial

Rapidlasso GmbH announces that Trimble’s Geospatial Division has become a sponsor of the LASzip compressor. Their contribution as a Bronze sponsor will improve the existing “LAS 1.4 compatibility mode” of LASzip whose creation and maintenance is already being supported by Gold sponsor NOAA and Bronze sponsor Quantum Spatial. The original Gold sponsor of the open source LASzip compressor was USACE – the US Army Corps of Engineers (see http://laszip.org).

The “LAS 1.4 compatibility mode” was created to provide immediate support for compressing the new LAS 1.4 point types by rewriting them as old point types and storing their new fields as “Extra Bytes”. As an added benefit this allows older software (without LAS 1.4 support) to access the newpoint types of LAS 1.4 files that would otherwise be unreadable. All important fields of the new point types 6 to 10 (i.e. those fields that matter to older software) are mapped to the corresponding fields of the older known point types 1, 3, or 5.

The Bronze sponsorship of Trimble’s Geospatial Division will pay for on-going improvements in the LASzip DLL and – in particular – add support for writing the new LAS 1.4 points in a streaming manner followed by an automated update of the bounding box and the point counters in the header.

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