SEATTLE, Wash., – Feb. 23, 2006 - LizardTech, a division of Celartem, Inc., and a leading provider of software solutions for managing and distributing digital content, today announced that the OGC, the international geospatial industry consensus standards organization, has officially adopted the GMLJP2 standard proposed by LizardTech and Galdos Systems and a consortium of leading aerospace and geospatial technology companies. GML, a Web-authoring language for delivering and displaying geographic data over the Internet, is based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and will be used to define rich geospatial metadata within a JPEG 2000 (JP2) file. This new standard will also drive cross-platform interoperability and rapid Internet distribution for geospatial imagery, enabling customers to quickly and easily disseminate massive geospatial imagery by providing a consistent image format that is vendor independent.
“Whether on the battlefield or a construction site for a new roadway, geospatial professionals are looking for reliable ways to distribute geographical imagery using a number of disparate software systems and platforms, and we are thrilled that the OGC has adopted the GMLJP2 standard now making such interoperability possible,” said Carlos Domingo, CEO of Celartem, Inc. “LizardTech customers will soon be able to add GML metadata to their JPEG 2000 imagery using the geospatial image tools they are already familiar with.”
“GMLJP2 opens a whole new application arena for GML, and enables the standardization of various kinds of satellite and aerial images,” said, Ron Lake, CEO of Galdos Systems Inc. He added, “This will have a significant impact on geographic data collection worldwide.”
Since the GMLJP2 specification has been officially adopted by the OGC, LizardTech is well underway to developing products to support the addition of GML metadata to JP2 files and provide LizardTech customers more flexibility and interoperability with their geospatial images. The new products are scheduled for availability this summer. Additionally, this opens up opportunities with future LizardTech products as GMLJP2 can support not only basic image information, but also geographic features, coverages, and topology, enabling new workflows such as using GML to specify which three bands a multispectral image should display depending on the application that opens it, or using sensor model information embedded in the GML to determine how an image should be rendered.
“The work of the GMLJP2 team provides an excellent example of how OGC standards, such as GML, can be integrated with other standards and technology to provide greater semantic richness for expressing geospatial content,” said Carl Reed, CTO of OGC.
Other companies that contributed to the proposal for the GMLJP2 standard were: Boeing, EUSC, SPOT, USGS, ITT, NASA, PCI, Integraph, DMSG, and BAE.
To learn more about the OGC standard visit:
http://www.opengeospatial.org/specs/?page=specs To learn more about GeoExpress 6, which supports JP2, visit: http://www.lizardtech.com/products/geo/.
About OGC
The OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 300 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications. OpenGIS(R) Specifications support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. The specifications empower technology developers to make complex spatial information and services accessible and useful with all kinds of applications. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.
About Galdos Systems Inc
Galdos targets the rapidly growing Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) market. Founded in 1998, Galdos revolutionized GIS technology and mobilized the worldwide Geo-Web by authoring the Geography Markup Language (GML). The company is recognized as a world leader in the development of cost-effective systems for delivering GML- and XML-based products for governments, government agencies and private companies that deal with geographic information. Galdos technology enables its customers to manage geographic information from multiple sources and share it across the Internet in real time. This solution transforms a manual process into one that is automated. For Galdos’ customers this means increased efficiencies in data sharing and significant cost reductions. For more information on Galdos, please visitwww.galdosinc.com.
About LizardTech
Since 1992, LizardTech has delivered state-of-the-art software products for managing and distributing massive, high-resolution geospatial data such as aerial and satellite imagery and LiDAR data. LizardTech pioneered the MrSID technology, a powerful wavelet-based image encoder, viewer, and file format. LizardTech has offices in Seattle, Denver, London and Tokyo. For more information about LizardTech, visit www.lizardtech.com.
About Celartem
Celartem Technology Inc. http://www.celartem.com develops and sells innovative technologies for storage, access and distribution of rich media content. Celartem has developed technology in the areas of digital image compression, scalable image viewing and secure content distribution and management. Celartem is listed on the Osaka Securities Exchange, JASDAQ: 4330. Established in 1996, Celartem is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has a wholly owned subsidiary, Celartem Inc. d.b.a. LizardTech with headquarters in Portland, OR.
