By RON DeLACY, BEE STAFF WRITER

Last Updated: June 15, 2004, 04:56:35 AM PDT

SONORA -- An earth science company based in Tuolumne County is establishing official government survey points between Modesto and Bakersfield, carrying on work that its leader ties to "the foundations of the United States."

Under a $320,000 contract from a San Diego institution, Condor Earth Technologies is fine-tuning reference points that were started under Thomas Jefferson.

Lots of people know of Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence, or as the nation s third president. Fewer know that Jefferson was something of a father to surveying the country.

"He saw land ownership as crucial for democracy to survive," said Barry Hillman, president of Condor Earth Technologies of Sonora. "He knew that the widest possible distribution of land among the citizens was critical, so that people would have assets to borrow money against and develop businesses. It s fundamental capitalism."

And to accomplish it, in 1796 President Jefferson and Congress commissioned the establishment of control points for surveys throughout the country. And points were added in later years as the country expanded west.

Each survey mark had an exact vertical as well as horizontal position. Or at least they were supposed to be exact.

Jack Gnitt, chief surveyor for Condor, said the vertical coordinates in the Central Valley are based on a 1929 system that assumed, incorrectly, that the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean sea levels were equal. "They are about 3 feet different in height," he said. "Sea level is a nebulous measurement, so it doesn t make a great benchmark."

Gnitt and seven colleagues are establishing or converting about 70 points between Modesto and Bakersfield to a space-based, subcentimeter precision system known to surveyors as NAVD88 that is independent of the sea-level bias.

All surveyors will use the coordinates as reference points, Gnitt said, and the points will be dated to take into account Earth s movement. Rather than measure from one point on Earth to another, the points are all measured from space.

And because they are established from space via satellite, Gnitt said, after an earthquake "we can reobserve the points and tell you what happened."

The California Spatial Reference Center, headquartered at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, is in charge of ensuring survey integrity in California.

The center chose Condor for this GPS Height Modernization Survey -- a slightly misleading official label, Gnitt said.

"We re establishing the points both horizontally and vertically," he said, "and they will be the most accurate survey monuments that were ever set in the valley."

Bee staff writer Ron DeLacy can be reached at 536-9005 or rdelacy@modbee.com.

GIS IN THE ROCKIES CONFERENCE PROGRAM IS ONLINE EARLIER THAN EVER BEFORE

Monday, 14 June 2004

Twelve Tracks Cover Full Range of Mapping Topics

Denver, Colo. -- June 14, 2004 -- The preliminary program for the 17th Annual GIS in the Rockies Conference has been posted to the conference web site, http://GISintheRockies.org.

This is the earliest date the program has ever been available. Doug Ort, Program Chair, said, "Because program content is the key to a successful conference, we gave very high priority to developing the program as early as possible." Karen Brandt, Chair of the GIS in the Rockies Board of Directors, added, "The entire Board of Directors has collaborated to develop a top-notch program. GIS professionals in all aspects of the industry and all stages of professional development will find opportunities to learn."Workshops and seminars are being presented by such luminaries as Herbert W. Stoughton, PhD, PE, PLS, CP; Denver Business Journal columnist Ben Leichtling, PhD; and book authors Jan Van Sickle and Thad Tilton. Program tracks include technical topics, policy issues and professional development:

• Emerging Standards/Open GIS

• Resource Conflict Management

• Professional Development

• Enterprise GIS

• Imagery & Remote Sensing

• Regional Cooperative Efforts

• Introduction to GIS

• Surveying, Cartography & Geodesy

• Public Policy

• GPS, Surveying & Field Data

• Frontiers of Technology

• Vendor Showcase

About the conferenceThe Conference will be October 6-8, 2004 at the Plaza at the Mart, a facility at the Denver Merchandise Mart. Wednesday and Thursday will include technical sessions, the exhibition, and shorter workshops. Full-day and two-day workshops will be Monday and Tuesday. Friday s program includes technical tours and a golf outing.The sponsoring societies are the Colorado Section of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), the Rocky Mountain Region of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Geospatial Information Technology Association (GITA), the Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado (PLSC), the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) and GIS Colorado.For more information, visit the web site at www.GISintheRockies.org or contact Karen Brandt, Chair, at Chair@GISintheRockies.org

HONDURAS LAA STANDARDIZES ON BENTLEY PROJECTWISE FOR MANAGED ENVIRONMENT FOR NATIONAL CADASTRE

Written by Bentley Systems

Monday, 14 June 2004 EXTON, Pa.--

Accurate Cadastral Maps, Linked to Legal Information and Published on the Web, Streamline Property Transfers and Financing to Support Economic Development Bentley Systems, Incorporated today announced that the Honduran land administration agency PATH has standardized on Bentley ProjectWise, the company s flagship collaboration server, to create a managed environment for nationwide cadastral and geospatial information. By providing Honduras with a single, reliable source of property ownership data, the system will streamline property transfers and help buyers get bank financing. By encouraging property ownership, the project will support economic development and enhance tax revenues. "Before, it took months to get the information for a property transfer. You d have to go to the cadastre office, to the municipal office--everyone had a different piece. And because the information wasn t centralized, you weren t sure it was reliable. This system brings security to the possession of land in our country," said Igor Zelaya, chief developer for PATH (Proyecto de Administracion de Tierras de Honduras).

In PATH s spatially enabled managed environment, valuable information is confidently shared, synchronized, and secured regardless of its source. PATH s geographically dispersed teams work together to create cadastral maps - using ProjectWise to manage data on infrastructure, topology, and property ownership, as well as information from remote field surveyors. The maps are then cross-referenced to legal information and aerial photographs. The agency s managed environment also includes Bentley Publisher, which enables the agency to automatically publish cadastral maps as well as related property titles, land-use regulations, and other data to any standard Web browser. In the first phase of its project, PATH s database now covers three of Honduras 18 districts. The agency s 12-year mission is to create a nationwide database, making information available to local jurisdictions and municipalities. "Scalability is a big benefit of ProjectWise," Zelaya said. "ProjectWise and other Bentley products are a proven solution for this kind of project. This process was also done in El Salvador with a lot of success," he said. "And they have the same problems in Panama, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. An implementation like this could benefit all these countries."

PATH is funded by the World Bank, a United Nations agency that provides financing and technical expertise to developing countries. PATH s managed environment earned a BE Award of Excellence, one of 21 announced last week at the BE Conference in Orlando, Florida. The annual awards honor Bentley users and their extraordinary work improving the world s infrastructure. About Bentley Bentley Systems, Incorporated, provides software for the lifecycle of the world s infrastructure. The company s comprehensive portfolio for the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets spans architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) and operations. With 2003 revenues reaching $260 million, Bentley is the leading provider of AEC software to the Engineering News-Record Design 500 and major owner-operators. To receive Bentley press releases as they are issued, visit www.bentley.com/bentleywire. For more information, visit www.bentley.com. Bentley, the "B" logo, BE, ProjectWise, and Publisher are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or Bentley Software, Inc. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Contacts Bentley Systems, Incorporated Press Contact:Christopher Rogers, 610-321-6309christopher.rogers@bentley.com

TOURING CLUB ITALIANO STREAMLINES MAPMAKING USING DATA-CENTRIC APPROACH BASED ON INTERGRAPH SOLUTIONS

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 08, 2004 01:57 PM

Internationally acclaimed European mapmaker to transition from CAD-based mapping to speed production and maintain high-quality appearance

Intergraph (NASDAQ:INGR) Mapping and Geospatial Solutions today announced Touring Club Italiano (TCI) (Milan, Italy), an Italian association for tourism development, is transitioning its cartographic production processes to a data-centric workflow using Intergraph solutions. The transition will streamline mapmaking by migrating processes from a traditional approach based on CAD systems to a new workflow using a centralized database system. Touring Club Italiano, active in mapmaking since 1914, produces as many as 700 total European and country maps and guidebooks in various languages annually, which includes detailed tourist maps of towns and cities, geographical and thematic maps and street maps. Touring Club Italiano s new workflow, based on Intergraph s GeoMedia(R) technology and Oracle Spatial, will capitalize on the use of a homogenous data set. The new workflow is completed by Dynamo technology for data validation, cartographic generalization and cartographic output.

The organization chose Intergraph s complete Digital Cartographic Suite for its cartographic production, taking advantage of the flexibility and openness of a geographic information system (GIS) while maintaining a high cartographic appearance. Using the new approach, TCI can now pull geospatial data from a database, deriving cartographic products at different scales from large-scale data. "The main benefit of this new approach is the introduction of GeoSpatial DataBase MultiScale and MultiProducts," said Andreina Galimberti, Director of Cartographic Department, Touring Club Italiano. "This means TCI will update geospatial data, such as graphics and attributes once, and these updates will automatically be used for multiple products regardless of the differing scale." The new workflow will be useful in TCI s upcoming creation of a new geospatial database of Italy at 1:50K scale that will also be generalized into two different products at 1:100K and 1:200K scales. The new workflow will also position TCI to meet future goals, such as selling digital data on the Internet for online trading. Final implementation of the new workflow is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

For more information about Intergraph s solutions, visit http://imgs.intergraph.com/solutions/. About Intergraph Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions is a leading geospatial solutions provider for the following markets: local, state and federal government; transportation; utilities; communications; location-based services; photogrammetry; remote sensing; cartography; and military and intelligence. For more information, visit http://imgs.intergraph.com. Intergraph is a registered trademark of Intergraph Corporation. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

STUDY HELPS SATELLITES MEASURE GREAT LAKES WATER QUALITY

Columbus OH (SPX) May 26, 2004

Ohio State University engineers are helping satellites form a clearer picture of water quality in the Great Lakes. The study - the first ever to rate the effectiveness of various computer models for monitoring the Great Lakes - might also aid studies of global climate change.

As algae flourishes in the five freshwater lakes every summer, satellite images show the water changing color from blue to green, explained Carolyn Merry, professor of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science. When algae levels are too high, water takes on a foul taste and odor that isn t easily removed by traditional treatment methods. Some forms of algae, such as one called microcystis, are toxic when consumed in large quantities. Though it can be filtered out of drinking water, microcystis can kill fish and birds, and coastal communities often have to ban swimming and water skiing in the summer when the algae blooms.

Computer models enable scientists to measure the color of light reflected from the water to gauge how much algae is present in a lake, and where. The problem: all the available models of this type were originally designed for sea water, not lake water. "They ve got it down pat for the ocean," Merry said of the various models developed by NASA and other agencies over the years. "But lakes are shallower and have different water conditions that affect the wavelengths of light collected by the satellites, so we can get erroneous measurements."

Merry and master s degree student Raghavendra Mupparthy reported the results of an initial study of Lake Erie May 25 in Denver at the meeting of the American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing. They determined which four of the top ocean models may perform well for studies of the Great Lakes. Most scientists look for evidence of climate change in the oceans rather than in lakes, but that may change in the future, the engineers said. "Lakes are important because they respond much faster to climate change than oceans do," Mupparthy said. Erie is the warmest of the Great Lakes, the shallowest and richest in life, and has changed much in recent years. For instance, the lake has experienced a microcystis outbreak every summer since 1995. The warmer the temperature, the bigger the outbreak, Merry said.

Though lakeside towns routinely measure algae levels firsthand, satellite images give scientists a broader view of trends in the lakes. "If we want to really understand whats happening in Lake Erie, we can take these computer models and marry them to other data to get a more complete picture," Merry said. The models could also apply to other large lakes and seas, such as the Mediterranean. The key to proving the models valid, she said, is to compare them to actual measurements of algae in the water. That s what she and Mupparthy did for Lake Erie, by collecting water samples from four sites in October 2000. They compared the actual algae levels to the levels suggested by 17 different models, each using images of the lake taken by NASA s SeaStar spacecraft. Model performance varied widely; one demonstrated an error of more than 250 percent, while several were off by less than one percent.

What set the top-performing models apart was how well they enabled the engineers to remove the interference of atmospheric molecules. Over the ocean, carbon dioxide, ozone, and humidity are fairly constant, but amounts of these molecules fluctuate dramatically over lakes depending on the weather and human activity. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research funded this study. Merry and Mupparthy have applied for funding to collect water samples from more sites, with the hope of customizing a model for Lake Erie.

INCREASED CUSTOMER DEMAND FOR HIGH-QUALITY IMAGERY PROMPTS BEIJING XING TIAN DI TO PURCHASE ADDITIONAL Z/I IMAGING DIGITAL MAPPING CAMERA FROM INTERGRAPH

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.May 24, 2004 11:31 AM US Eastern Timezone

Successful missions with first DMC captures 30,000 images in four-to-five-month period

Mapping and Geospatial Solutions today announced Beijing Xing Tian Di Information Technology Co., Ltd., China, has chosen to purchase a second Z/I Imaging Digital Mapping Camera (DMC(R)) system. Customer demand for high-quality imagery has increased as a result of the success that Xing Tian Di has achieved with the company s first DMC purchased in late 2003. The company has acquired more than 30,000 images of Jiangsu Province with scales ranging from 1:4,000 to 1:25,000, in the past four to five months.

"We have been very impressed with the accuracy and image quality that the DMC has provided," said Mr. Chen Hanlin, president of the Xing Tian Di Group. "Our customers have also been impressed and, as a result, we have a large number of orders from government organizations. The second DMC will provide the extra capacity required to fulfill the orders."

Xing Tian Di is one of China s leading high-technology companies that integrates scientific research, software development and technology trade. Xing Tian Di produces digital terrain models and orthophotos for various Chinese government organizations, such as local lands and planning departments and surveying and mapping institutes.

With faster processing time than film-based systems and engineering-quality resolutions, the DMC gives Xing Tian Di the ability to quickly provide customers with more accurate and high-quality orthophotos to replace outdated existing film-based photography.

For more information about Intergraph s Z/I Imaging products, visit http://imgs.intergraph.com/products/. Detailed information about Intergraph solutions can be found at http://imgs.intergraph.com/solutions/.

Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions

Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions is a leading geospatial solutions provider for the following markets: local, state and federal government; transportation; utilities; communications; location-based services; photogrammetry; remote sensing; cartography; and military and intelligence. For more information, visit http://imgs.intergraph.com/.

Z/I Imaging and DMC are registered trademarks of Z/I Imaging Corporation. Intergraph is a registered trademark of Intergraph Corporation. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

AVEVA AND LEICA ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC, COLLABORATIVE ALLIANCE

Companies to Provide Direct Link Between Laser Surveying and State-of-the-Art Design Applications

HOUSTON, May 19

AVEVA (London: AVV), a leading supplier of engineering IT systems for the process, energy and marine industries, has announced an alliance with Leica Geosystems HDS, Inc.(formerly Cyra), the 3D laser scanning products division of Leica Geosystems AG. The alliance is expected to bring significant improvements in the use of automatically captured as-built plant information for new and ongoing engineering projects. Gathering and maintaining accurate information about existing plant and offshore facilities is a recognized challenge to the engineering industry.

The problem becomes particularly evident during site revamps and extensions, when projects that are digitally modeled must tie into and avoid physical clashes with existing installations, for which there may be no reliable computer model.

Leica is a market leader in the field of laser scanning, a technique that employs reflected lasers to create geometrically accurate digital models of existing structures. Recent advancements have made 3D laser scanning a fast, cost-effective option, offering project teams close integration with design

systems to improve the performance of the revamp project. Increased recognition of the value of plant data and the need to execute revamp projects with minimum plant downtime, are fuelling the adoption of the technology (also known as High-Definition Surveying).

AVEVA has had an association with as-built data capture processes such as photogrammetry since the 1970s. This alliance will integrate state-of-the-art 3D, laser-scanned survey data with AVEVA s VANTAGE Plant Design Management System (PDMS). PDMS is one of the world s most popular 3D plant design solutions with a major market share in almost every industry sector.

Leica produces accurate, versatile laser-scanning hardware. By using it in conjunction with Leica s Cyclone software technology, engineers can process laser-scanned data directly for use with PDMS. Collaboration between the two companies will therefore deliver genuine advancements in utilizing point cloud

data on projects.

John Sanins, Head of VANTAGE Plant Design commented: "AVEVA s as-built engineering strategy forms the platform on which we will provide open access to packaged laser point cloud data in PDMS, irrespective of the laser-scanning technology used in the plant survey. The synergy between AVEVA s data-centric foundation and Leica s high-performance object database architecture supports

the sharing and development of extended technology. We are confident that our collaboration will offer considerable benefit to our customers."

Geoffrey Jacobs, Senior VP, Strategic Marketing, Leica Geosystems HDS,Inc., commented, "Leica supports the open strategy with AVEVA. This alliance will enable a complete workflow to be recognised, while enabling project teams to use the application appropriate to the project needs. With the worldwide presence of Leica Geosystems and the alliance with AVEVA, we see significant

opportunities for increased market adoption."

About AVEVA Group plc

AVEVA Group plc (http://www.aveva.com ) is one of the world s leading engineering IT solutions and services providers to the oil and gas, pulp and paper, power, chemical, pharmaceutical and shipbuilding industries. Formerly known as Cadcentre, the group has a history of groundbreaking innovation that spans five decades.

About Leica Geosystems HDS, Inc.

Leica Geosystems HDS Inc. (formerly Cyra Technologies Inc.),

http://www.cyra.com , is based in San Ramon, California. The company specializes in the development, manufacture and marketing of High-Definition Surveying(TM)(also known as 3D laser scanning) systems and software. These products are used for performing as-built, detail, engineering, and topographic surveys for a variety of 2D & 3D mapping and modeling applications in the AEC and other

markets. The company was founded in 1993, was acquired in 2001 by Leica Geosystems AG, and operates as a wholly owned subsidiary.

About Leica Geosystems AG

Leica Geosystems AG is the world leader in spatial data acquisition and data handling products (http://www.leica-geosystems.com ). The Swiss-headquartered company (SWX:LGSN) operates five divisions and has more than 20 sales companies and 200 sales partners worldwide. The main markets that Leica

Geosystems serves today are topographic and cadastral surveying, remote sensing, engineering, construction, GIS, mining, building, and industrial measurement markets.

AVEVA AND MENSI ANNOUNCE TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION ALLIANCE

Companies to Provide Extended As-Built Engineering Capability Using Latest Laser Scanning Technologies

HOUSTON, May 19

AVEVA (London: AVV), the leading supplier of engineering IT systems for the process, energy and marine industries, has announced an alliance with MENSI, the 3D laser scanning

business of Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB), to integrate laser scanning technology and plant design software capabilities. The alliance is expected to bring significant improvements in the use of automatically captured as built plant information for new and ongoing engineering projects.

Gathering and maintaining accurate information about existing plant facilities is a recognized challenge to the engineering industry. The problem becomes most evident during site revamps and extensions when new design projects have to tie in with existing installations for which there may be no reliable digital model.

MENSI, an acknowledged leader in the field of laser scanning, uses a technique that employs reflected laser pulses to create accurate digital models of existing objects. The alliance will integrate MENSI s state-of-the-art, 3D, laser-scanned survey data (known as point cloud data) with AVEVA s VANTAGE Plant Design Management System (PDMS). PDMS is one of the world s most popular 3D plant design solutions with a major market share in almost every industry sector.

The alliance intends to deliver genuine advancements in utilizing point cloud data. MENSI s analysis software is able to process most industry point cloud data formats and bring it into a PDMS design model. MENSI software provides data masking, measurement gathering and geometry fitting tools. The PDMS model can then be used for advanced interference detection and design

verification, supporting the revamp/retrofit projects.

Increased recognition of the value of plant data and the need to execute revamp projects faster, with minimum downtime, are driving business adoption of the laser scanning technology on projects. Since the 1970s, AVEVA has had a long association with as-built engineering practices such as photogrammetry.

However, recent advancements have made 3D laser scanning a more viable option and project teams are seeking close integration with design systems, such as PDMS, to improve the cost effectiveness of revamping or retrofitting.

John Sanins, Head of VANTAGE Plant Design commented: "AVEVA s as-built engineering strategy forms the platform on which we will provide open access to packaged laser point cloud data in PDMS, irrespective of the laser scanning technology used in the plant survey. This alliance recognizes MENSI as one of the leading laser scanning companies in the market today. We are very pleased to be sharing and developing technology to the mutual benefit of our customers."

Tristan Grimbert, President and CEO, MENSI commented, "MENSI endorses the open strategy with AVEVA. MENSI 3Dipsos software supports data transfer of 3D model generated from the point cloud to PDMS. This alliance will enable a complete workflow to be recognized, while enabling project teams to use the application appropriate to the project needs. With the worldwide presence of

our parent company Trimble and the alliance with AVEVA, we see significant opportunities for increased market adoption."

About MENSI

MENSI, founded in 1986 and located in Fontenay-sous-Bois, France, is a leading 3D laser scanning company. MENSI 3D scanning tools use laser technology to capture the shapes of physical structures or scenes and convert them into digital format for follow-on data editing or direct analysis. MENSI

was acquired by Trimble in 2003, and represents the 3D Scanning Solution Business. More information at http://www.mensi.com .

About Trimble

Trimble is a leading innovator of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Trimble has more than 2,000 employees in more than 20 countries worldwide. More information at http://www.trimble.com .

About AVEVA Group plc

AVEVA Group plc is one of the world s leading engineering IT solutions and services providers to the oil and gas, pulp and paper, power, chemical, pharmaceutical and shipbuilding industries. Formerly known as Cadcentre, the group has a history of groundbreaking innovation that spans five decades.

More information at http://www.aveva.com .