Pitney Bowes and Autodesk get “Strategic”

January 10, 2012 1 Comment

So out of the blue, this just rolls out:

 Autodesk, Inc., a world leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, and Pitney Bowes Software, Inc., a global leader in customer data, location intelligence, analytics and communication software and services, today announced they have entered into a strategic alliance agreement. The new agreement will serve as a framework for both companies to provide resources, services and solutions to help infrastructure owners and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) organizations make more informed decisions and drive greater efficiencies across the plan, design, build, manage lifecycle of infrastructure.

As with others, I’m not sure what this means for the geospatial space moving forward.  As Joe Francica points out, unless both companies have “skin in the game”, there is no real incentive to work together.  What is clear though is both companies are going on the offensive which might make 2012 very interesting.  Hopefully both companies will spell out in greater detail what this means in the next month so we can all figure out where we might want to align our efforts moving forward.

Wonder Twin powers activate! Shape of ????!!!! Form of ????!!!!

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Autodesk is Now Cloud Ready

September 27, 2011 1 Comment

This is a new one, using a buzzword to hide a licensing model.  Well played Autodesk!

Autodesk was nowhere to be seen at FOSS4G 2011 so I assume they’ve gone back to their roots and away from location.  The world is much cleaner when you work in paper space.

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AutoCAD LT 2012 for Mac

August 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

Unlike the other “large” proprietary vector editing program in our space, AutoCAD now has a version in the Mac App Store.

The new AutoCAD LT for Mac software brings powerhouse drafting tools to the Mac. Providing native support for DWG™ file format, AutoCAD LT for Mac helps you efficiently document and share designs. With the powerhouse tools you expect from AutoCAD LT software – along with an intuitive Mac OS® X interface – it’s now easier than ever to create design documentation on your platform of choice.

In a past life I would have been all over that.  Today though I don’t use DWG enough to justify paying $900 for AutoCAD LT.  Too bad though, it looks very nice.

AutoCAD LT 2012 for Mac in the App Store

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We need a “cash for clunkers” program to rid us of old busted web GIS

September 22, 2009 33 Comments

A day doesn’t go by were I don’t run into it.  You know what I’m talking about, some busted old ArcIMS or MapGuide website that is the only thing between me and getting what I need out of data.  Clearly new technology isn’t going to just help these websites get upgraded on their own.  No, clearly we need some stimulus money to help foster some new open, standards based, http goodness in our lives.

What I would like the Obama administration to do is start “Cash for ArcIMS” and a “Cash for MapGuide” programs to rid us of these abominations.  It is our patriotic duty to replace these old antiquated web technologies with some fine ArcGIS Server, GeoServer, MapGuide Open Source or many of the other great web GIS products out there.

It is time to stand up and take charge. Sing along men!

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The MapGuide REST Extension

January 31, 2009 7 Comments

ESRI has a REST API, GeoServer is going to have one, now MapGuide might get its own RESTful service.  The City of Nanaimo smartly realized that using a RESTful service was a much better way to get data to the public than a traditional WxS or ArcIMS service (take note of that NSDI 2.0 folks).  Jason Birch has all the details including the URLs to explore the service.  I like how Google has already crawled their service and it is discoverable via Google Search.  Hopefully Jason gets some great feedback and this Nanaimo project can make it into the MapGuide trunk.  Their work is impressive and the results speak for themselves.

Getting RESTful in Namino, BC

Getting RESTful in Nanaimo, BC

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GeoWeb and Autodesk

June 11, 2008 3 Comments

OK, well the title might be sexier than the content, but I thought I’d finally get around to linking to Sean Gorman’s blog post about a conversation we had about the GeoWeb. I was just listening to his interview on the VerySpatial podcast and it really is amazing how far we’ve come in a year. To say I had little faith in these projects/companies (WeoGeo, FortiusOne, Pleiades, OpenStreetMap among others), is an understatement, but they are really proving that if you give people a platform to collaborate and share data, they’ll do really amazing things. I’m so excited to see where we end up in the next year. Good thing for the disclaimer at the bottom of my blog sidebar!

And the Autodesk reference? This afternoon Shaan Hurley from Autodesk stopped by the RSP Architects studio space in Tempe. Shaan and I have emailed each other for the past few years and it was great to finally meet him in person and show him around the studio space. It was a shame we weren’t able to spend more time, but since he makes it down to Arizona often, I’m sure I’ll be seeing him again really soon.

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BIM and GIS

June 4, 2008 9 Comments

My hat is off to everyone who had to work within the BIM (Building Information Modeling) space on a daily basis. Talk about using tools that aren’t refined enough (and this is coming from someone who has worked with GIS applications for 15+ years). It was painful hearing about how many hoops folks have to jump through with BIM and how it affects their workflows (not in a good way).

It has been clear to me with all the emails I’ve received from folks wanting to know more about how I’m approaching BIM and GIS, that there is great interest in the subject. Just about everyone of my clients I’ve talked to about the move to the new company has mentioned BIM as something they want to or are being required to get involved with. I’ll make it my goal in the next year or so to keep everyone informed about how things are going and what I’ve learned about working with BIM and GIS.

I’ve just gotten Revit installed on my desktop and as soon as we can square the ArcGIS Desktop licenses we’ll start working on workflows and interoperability.


We don’t need gatekeepers between BIM and GIS

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Shapefiles vs DWGs

June 13, 2007 24 Comments

I was talking with a “CAD Operator” the other day and he mentioned to me that he noticed that Shapefiles are the GIS equivalent to the DWG. I explained to him how technically it wasn’t like that, but I guess you’d get that feeling as almost everyone uses the Shapefile in one way other another. Can you imagine though if ESRI users had to put up with this dialog in ArcMap?

I don’t even what to think about it…

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Where is ArcSDE CAD Client 9.2?

May 8, 2007 5 Comments

OK, where the heck is ArcSDE CAD Client for 9.2?

Its May already and I still don’t see it on the ESRI support site. My choice right now is AutoCAD 2006 (or earlier) and ArcSDE 9.1 which isn’t much of a choice at all anymore (my company is in the process of upgrading us from AutoCAD 2007 to 2008 and I can probably hold on to the 2007 license, but 2006 is out of the question) and I’m in the process of upgrading our Oracle 10g/SDE 9.1 install to SQL Server 2006/SDE 9.2 which I don’t want to hold off too much longer on. I know at the Dev Summit the word was April 2007, but here we are in May and it still isn’t there.

Grrr!

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MapGuide Enterprise Support Issues

January 30, 2007 2 Comments

I’ve been looking at MGE because some clients have “issues” with open source software. Not only that, but the thought that you’d have great technical support when needed was an added bonus. After reading Shane Buscher’s post it sounds like MGE isn’t quite what it should be.

Once I figured out that I only had web support (no phone#) from AutoDesk, I logged a support request and got back the regurgitated email indicating I would be contacted within 4 hours. That was Friday morning 8:45 (CST). I’ve been left with no response whatsoever. There’s no way for me to follow up with anyone without a phone#, and replying to the original email is futile.

It looked like Autodesk had hit the sweet spot with MapGuide Open Source and MapGuide Enterprise, but it appears that they need a little time to get there. Telephone support is key IMO as I don’t always have time for an email. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

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