PCI’s GXL technology successfully used to process 1m imagery for ArcGIS Online World Imagery Map

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada—March 26, 2012: PCI Geomatics, a world-leading developer of geoimaging software and systems, announced today that the GXL Cloud system it deployed for Esri in 2011 has successfully been used to process large volumes of 1 meter pansharpened Ikonos imagery. Imagery processed through the use of the GXL Cloud system is now available for free through ArcGIS Online.

The imagery processed using PCI’s GXL system was published to the ArcGIS Online World Imagery map earlier this month. Expanded coverage is now available for Korea and several countries in the Middle East and North Africa – with several more updates planned over the coming months. Samples of the imagery processed using PCI’s GXL technology can be accessed here: http://pci.gl/wdqxP7.

PCI’s GeoImaging Accelerator (GXL) technology was designed for automation and speed, leveraging off-the-shelf CPU/GPU hardware through highly parallelized processing capability, thereby accelerating production throughput over traditional desktop systems by orders of magnitude. Cloud-based services offer the advantage of low-cost computing resources across multiple instances that can be switched on and off as required, providing on-demand scalability. PCI has worked with Esri Inc. to deploy its GXL technology to the Amazon Cloud, where multiple instances can be tasked to process large volumes of imagery — on demand.

The GXL Cloud System implementation is tailored to process high-resolution optical imagery, and can generate pansharpened, orthorectified, color-balanced tiled mosaic products at high speed using multi CPU/GPU and multi-instance enabled technology. The complete system can transform uncorrected Level 1 frame-based data from multiple satellite sensors into thousands of orthorectified and mosaicked products — on demand.

“Through diligent work and a great amount of innovation, we have overcome significant hurdles which have limited the availability of cloud computing for the customers’ Earth Observation and Imagery needs,” said David Stanley, Chief Technology Officer at PCI Geomatics. “By staging the data directly within Amazon’s facility and coupling it with our Cloud-optimized GXL system, we can leverage the true power of Cloud Based processing for our customers, that is, on-demand scalability for high-speed production.”

“Through the use of the GXL Cloud system that PCI has deployed to our Amazon Cloud instances, we are working diligently to provide high-resolution and high-quality content as quickly as possible for the ArcGIS Online platform,” said Steven Lambert, Senior Program Manager at Esri.

About GeoImaging Accelerator (GXL)

GXL technology combines high-performance computing with PCI Geomatics expertise to provide significant improvements in automation, speed and efficiency. By optimizing and distributing automated workflows, traditional image-processing is elevated to industrial-strength production.

For more information about the GXL software solution, and the Cloud based capability, visit www.pcigeomatics.com/gxl, or www.pcigeomatics.com/cloud

About PCI Geomatics

PCI Geomatics is a world-leading developer of software and systems to process aerial and satellite imagery. The company provides integrated Esri imagery workflows, standalone image processing capability, and large volume processing throughput, giving customers the ability to produce high-quality image products and derived information for any project. Find out more at www.pcigeomatics.com.

About Esri

Esri develops geographic information systems (GIS) solutions that function as an integral component in

nearly every type of organization. Esri software is used by more than 350,000 organizations worldwide

including most U.S. federal agencies and national mapping agencies, 45 of the top 50 petroleum companies, all 50 U.S. state health departments, most forestry companies, and many others in dozens of industries. Esri software is the standard in state and local government and is used by more than 24,000 state and local governments including Paris, France; Los Angeles, California, USA; Beijing, China; and Kuwait City, Kuwait. For more information, visit www.esri.com.

Press Contact

Kevin R. Jones
Director, Marketing and Product Management
T: 819-770-0022 x 214
E: jones@pcigeomatics.com
Web: www.pcigeomatics.com

Twitter: @pcigeomatics

PCI Geomatics Announces Availability of Online Courses for Geomatica

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada—March 22, 2012: PCI Geomatics, a world-leading developer of geoimaging software and systems, announced today that it is now offering online courses for its desktop image processing software, Geomatica.

PCI has a large base of Geomatica customers throughout the world, and offers a number of resources to help new and experienced users get the most out of their software investment. Based on market research and customer feedback, instructor-led training continues to offer the highest value in terms of operational knowledge obtained versus instruction time/approach. Over the past few years, PCI has observed a shift towards offering training online, due to the convenience it offers in terms of travel and the reduced time commitment (because there is no travel required to participate).

As such, PCI is initially offering a one day “Introduction to Geomatica” online course on March 29^th, 2012, and plans to offer its full curriculum on a rotating basis going forward. The focus of the initial course, which is broken down into five modules, will offer participants the opportunity to master the basics needed to visualize and process raster and vector data sets. Participants will log into a live session, where they will have access to an instructor that will be leading them through the material. Participants will have the latest version of PCI’s Geomatica 2012 software installed, and will be given access to a training manual and data (imagery) to complete the exercises and follow along with the instructor.

“PCI has received a number of requests for training in the recent past, but customers are increasingly reluctant to commit the time needed to travel to a specific training location to attend training,” said Brad Schmidt, VP – Sales and Marketing at PCI Geomatics. “By offering our courses online, customers can have multiple people attend from different locations and join the training course from the convenience of their offices.”

PCI’s online training course offers great value to participants, with the added benefit of being very convenient. To find out more about the initial March 29^th course offering, see http://www.pcigeomatics.com/training.

About PCI Geomatics

PCI Geomatics is a world-leading developer of software and systems to process aerial and satellite imagery. The company provides integrated Esri imagery workflows, standalone image processing capability, and large volume processing throughput, giving customers the ability to produce high-quality image products and derived information for any project. Find out more at www.pcigeomatics.com.

Press Contact

Kevin R. Jones
Director, Marketing and Product Management
T: 819-770-0022 x 214
E: jones@pcigeomatics.com
Web: www.pcigeomatics.com

Twitter: @pcigeomatics

PCI Geomatics Releases GXL Aerial v2.1

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada—March 20, 2012: PCI Geomatics, a world leading developer of geo-imaging software and systems, today announces the release of its GeoImaging Accelerator Aerial (GXL-Aerial) version 2.1; the latest version of the company’s high-speed, high-volume multi CPU/GPU distributed processing software for aerial workflows.

Following feedback from its user base, PCI has made numerous improvements to the GXL including increases in accuracy and speed, advanced automation, and an enhanced user experience. GXL Aerial v2.1 also adds support for the DMC camera format providing wider usability and flexibility.

“Version 2.1 of the GXL represents a significant step forward for the processing of high volumes of imagery,” said David Piekny, Product manager at PCI Geomatics. “The focus of this update is in creating more accurate, better quality output that requires less editing, as well as some useful new jobs for increased automation.”

GXL Aerial v2.1 allows users to orthorectify and mosaic thousands of aerial images per day through the power of distributed processing that leverages multi-core CPUs and GPUs. This technology results in significantly increased throughput, lower production costs, and reduced reliance on outsourcing.

GXL Aerial was developed by PCI Geomatics and introduced to the marketplace in October 2010, providing support for Microsoft UltraCam’s digital frame camera series. Since that time, PCI has been adding new features and new sensor compatibility to GXL aerial; allowing even more users to take advantage of the technology.

About GXL-Aerial

GXL-Aerial technology combines high-performance computing with PCI Geomatics expertise to provide significant improvements in automation, speed and efficiency. By optimizing and distributing automated workflows, traditional image-processing is elevated to industrial-strength production. For more information about the GXL software solution, visit www.pcigeomatics.com/gxl

About PCI Geomatics

PCI Geomatics is a world-leading developer of software and systems to process aerial and satellite imagery. The company provides integrated Esri imagery workflows, standalone image processing capability, and large volume processing throughput, giving customers the ability to produce high-quality image products and derived information for any project. Find out more at www.pcigeomatics.com.

Press Contact

Kevin R. Jones
Director, Marketing and Product Management
T: 819-770-0022 x 214
E: jones@pcigeomatics.com
Web: www.pcigeomatics.com

Twitter: @pcigeomatics

Key Features of GXL Aerial 2.1 update include:

Improved Accuracy and Speed

Many jobs have been updated or expanded, resulting in more accurate, better quality output that required less time to inspect and edit:

- Clip orthos along-track and cross-track to speed processing and remove building lean

- Constrain seamlines towards image centers to reduce building mis-match

- Seamlines contain 50% fewer vertices to store and edit, while maintaining routing and appearance

- Specify a height model for improved DTM vertical accuracy

Improved Usability

As a result of customer feedback, PCI has added new features to improve the user experience:

Sourcemaps are created for mosaics, allowing quick identification of source images

- Background (Null data) value can be set to black, white or any grayscale level

- Both merged and topological (non-overlapping) seamline layers are generated for the entire project area

- Kappa rotation parameter now accessible directly for AT ingest

- Projection Engine now includes EPSG and custom user-defined projections

Improved Automation

New jobs have been added to improve automation and reduce work. These can be run on their own or as part of a batch process in an end-to-end workflow:

- Quickly generate DTMs for from points, lines, polygons, contours and breaklines with the DEM Generation job

- Fine-tune and enhance the visual impact of your mosaics with the Image Enhancement job

- Scale your imagery to 8 or 16 bit formats with the Image Scaling job

Expanded Formats and Cameras

The GXL Aerial now supports additional sensors and standards, providing wider usability and flexibility:

- DMC camera support now included in GXL Aerial

- Vector xyz format, las and others can be used directly in DEM Generation

- Mixed tiff inputs (scanline/tiles) can be used together

PCI Geomatics and University of New Brunswick receive Innovation Award

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada—March 7, 2012: PCI Geomatics, a world-leading developer of geoimaging software and systems, announced today that it was the co-recipient of a prestigious Synergy Award for Innovation for 2011, along with the University of New Brunswick (UNB).

The Synergy Awards for Innovation were launched in 1995 by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to recognize partnerships in natural sciences and engineering research and development between universities and Canadian industry. Since their inception, the Awards have honored the most outstanding achievements of university-industry collaboration in the natural sciences and engineering.

On February 27^th, 2012, Mr. David Stanley from PCI Geomatics, along with his UNB counterpart Dr. Zhang, attended an event to honor the award recipients. The event was held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, the Governor General of Canada’s official residence. Mr. Stanley and Dr. Zhang were presented with the award by His Excellency the Right Honorable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada.

PCI Geomatics and the UNB were selected to receive this award under Category I, Small and Medium Sized Companies, for their innovative work on new pansharpening algorithms developed for high-resolution optical satellite imagery. These new algorithms - developed by Dr. Zhang and implemented into PCI’s commercial Geomatica software - allow for the fusion of high-resolution panchromatic imagery with lower-resolution color imagery to create sharp, high-resolution pansharpened images that contain color.

Pictures from the event and of the Synergy award itself can be viewed here: http://www.pcigeomatics.com/pressnews/photos/SynergyAwards/

About PCI Geomatics

PCI Geomatics is a world-leading developer of software and systems to process aerial and satellite imagery. The company provides integrated Esri imagery workflows, standalone image processing capability, and large volume processing throughput, giving customers the ability to produce high-quality image products and derived information for any project. Find out more at www.pcigeomatics.com.

Press Contact

Kevin R. Jones
Director, Marketing and Product Management
T: 819-770-0022 x 214
E: jones@pcigeomatics.com
Web: www.pcigeomatics.com

Twitter: @pcigeomatics

Education Alliance Agreement signed with Northeastern University

RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada—March 01, 2012: PCI Geomatics, a world-leading developer of geoimaging software and systems, announced today that it has signed an Education Alliance agreement with Northeastern University (NEU), located in Boston, MA.

In order to promote cooperation and knowledge exchange, PCI Geomatics has created the ‘PCI Geomatics Education Alliance Program’ designed to create strong reciprocal relationships with select educational institutions. Under the terms of the Alliance Program, PCI Geomatics provides software licenses to support teaching and research activities in exchange for insights into the work being conducted at the University with PCI Geomatics software. The program fosters communication between the University and PCI scientists, and provides an outlet to the commercial world, highlighting the work conducted at the University using PCI Geomatics software.

“PCI greatly values the contributions of Universities and other educational institutions to advance our collective knowledge of remote sensing science and applications,” said Brad Schmidt, VP of Sales and Marketing at PCI Geomatics. “The purpose of the Education Alliance Program is to support the education sector, which acts as a beacon for teaching, research, and innovation.”

“We are pleased to have been selected to participate in PCI’s Education Alliance Program,” said Dr. Cordula Robinson, Academic Specialist in the College of Professional Studies (CPS) at Northeastern University. “Geomatica is an excellent teaching aid in conveying the fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing to our Graduate students. In addition, it offers excellent tools for customization that are leveraged for research in directed studies. We have a wide variety of students using this technology through our online course offerings.”

PCI Geomatics has implemented other Educational Alliance agreements recently, and aims to have regional representation in all parts of the world.

About PCI Geomatics

PCI Geomatics is a world-leading developer of software and systems to process aerial and satellite imagery. The company provides integrated Esri imagery workflows, standalone image processing capability, and large-volume processing throughput, giving customers the ability to produce high-quality image products and derived information for any project. Find out more at www.pcigeomatics.com. To find out more about PCI’s Education offerings, visit: www.pcigeomatics.com/education. Press Contact

Kevin R. Jones
Director, Marketing and Product Management
T: 819-770-0022 x 214
E: jones@pcigeomatics.com
Web: www.pcigeomatics.com

Twitter: @pcigeomatics