I recently had the privilege of spending a week in the Denver Metro area visiting LizardTech customers and business associates.  I have been to the beautiful city of Denver many times, and I look forward to each and every visit, especially the part where I get to leave my umbrella at home and bust out the sunglasses! (Yes, they actually sell sunglasses here in Seattle, wise guy…just don’t expect to use them much. )

But something I never seem to adjust well to, no matter how much I prepare for it, is the altitude and humidity change between Denver and Seattle.  As a means of outsmarting my internal self, the first stop as soon as I hit town was to a Super Target to pick up a case of water for the week, in hopes that it would help my system adjust going from 80% humidity at sea level to virtual 0% humidity at 5280 feet. But little did I know that I would experience a new symptom of higher altitudes on this trip – nose bleeds.  As a co-worker based in Denver says: “They don’t call ’em the Denver Rockies for nothin’.”

Pike’s Peak framed by the Siamese Twins rock formation in the Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs. Image by Beverly Lussier, public domain.

So with my case of water and a box full of Kleenex I powered through an action-packed week in the Mile High City.

Monday 11 am – Pixxures

It was just me on this inaugural Denver Metro area customer site visit. Pixxures is a very important LizardTech customer. They provide custom digital aerial imagery, orthophotography, GIS and mapping services. In addition to collecting direct-digital, high-resolution multispectral aerial imagery, they scan and orthorectify historical aerial photography and offer value-added remote sensing services.

I was able to meet with all seven people on the production team and go over LizardTech’s LiDAR Compressor and GeoExpress 8 software. They are heavy users of multiband and lidar imagery so LiDAR Compressor and the new multi- and hyperspectral support in GeoExpress couldn’t have come at a better time for them.

Monday 1:30 pm – Mapmart

Terry Ryan and myself on another Denver Metro area customer site visit. Mapmart is a division of IntraSearch Inc., a full service mapping company, headquartered in Denver. MapMart is partnered with over thirty of the top geospatial data creators to cover nearly all facets of geospatial data needs. They are branching into the field of data hosting and are very interested in implementing LizardTech’s Express Server software.

You say you don’t know much about Express Server? Here’s some quick schoolin’ for you:

• Check out GIS Planning’s Express Server data hosting website here.
• Express Server also works within any WMS client as well as a number of proprietary clients. Your imagery is accessed directly within these applications. Check out the entire state of New Jersey here!
• View more WMS imagery being delivered using Express Server here.

Tuesday 8:30 am – CompassTools

It was just me on this Denver Metro area training. CompassTools is an authorized LizardTech reseller located in Centennial, a suburb of Denver. They specialize in field data collection tools and graciously offered us the use of their training room at no charge and even provided a continental breakfast for the attendees.

We promoted this session through a LizardTech marketing e-blast and the CompassTools newsletter.

Wednesday 1 pm – City and County of Denver

Terry Ryan and myself on this customer site visit. We met with Paul Tessar and his team of developers and GIS gurus. They are very interested in Express Server for accessing their imagery using ArcIMS.

Seal of the City and County of Denver. Image public domain.

Wednesday – ERDAS 11 World Tour

This half-day event was hosted by ERDAS and Digital Globe (another very important LizardTech customer!) at the Xilinx Facility in Longmont. T-Ryan and I learned about all the new features and benefits in the ERDAS 2011 Software Release.

Here is a GISCafe article with a bit more detailed information on the ERDAS 2011 Software Release.

The event wrapped up after lunch (a very healthy and delicious taco bar!) and as luck would have it Longmont is a mere 15 miles from Boulder, famous for its status as one of the most liberal cities in Colorado and located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 5,430 feet.

It was a beautiful day in Boulder with mostly blue skies despite some broken smoke signals from the wildfires in the area. The mountain views were breath-taking and there are a multitude of hiking trails and climbing for all skill levels throughout the city.

Thursday evening  – Business Dinner at Euclid Hall in LoDo District

Built in 1883 as a house for Dr. Byron Albertus Wheeler, Euclid Hall has been home to the Masons, the Colorado Women’s Relief Corps, The Cootie Club, Maudie’s Flea Market and is even rumored to have once been the very fancy headquarters of a brothel catering to government officials, law enforcement and members of the media. Perhaps its most memorable occupant was Soapy Smith’s Double Eagle Bar which operated from 1977 through the end of the century. The bar was a long-time gathering place for good food and live entertainment, with focus on high quality and innovative pub food from around the world including housemade sausages, po’ boys, poutine and schnitzels.

They’ve since taken the stickers off the new windows of Euclid Hall. Image copyright Lori Midson, used with permission.

That said, I had to try the Sausage Tasting plate.  It came with four types of mustard, two sweet and two spicy and a link of each of the following:

• Beef Short Rib Kielbasa – beef blood infused sausage
• Uncensored Hoppwurst, Carr Valley cheddar
• Boudin Noir, avec curry e aubergine
• Bavarian Veal Weisswurst

They did offer to substitute the blood sausage for one of the other three they offered but since I had never had it before I decided to take a walk on the wild side and give it a try. All the mustards and sausages were delicious but I just couldn’t get past the color (it was a deep purple, almost black) and texture (pasty, pâté-type consistency) of the blood sausage enough to enjoy more than one bite.

But rest assured I will be going back to Euclid Hall. The service was amazing and I still have yet to try their famous poutine.

Friday 9 am – Sanborn

Jeff Young and myself on this Colorado Springs customer site visit. Sanborn is our biggest commercial GeoExpress user. They are headquartered in Colorado Springs with locations in Oregon, California, Texas, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, and New York.

Jeff Young, our business developer, and I were invited to meet with the productions operation group and discuss the new features in GeoExpress 8.  We were given a tour of the office and got to see the many server rooms they have designated just for image processing. They handle so much imagery that they not only have workstations processing overnight, they actually have a graveyard shift of imagery technicians performing digital orthophoto processing.

Sanborn logo from an early map of Denver. Image copyright Sanborn, used with permission.