Last July we unveiled the MrSID® Generation 4 Decode SDK to coincide with our release of the first groundbreaking version of LiDAR Compressor™ software. The new version of the MrSID format (MG4) supports LiDAR compression. We released a plug-in for using MG4 in ArcGIS 3D Analyst last October and unveiled our own MG4 Decode tool for decoding MG4 back out to LAS or ASCII text format earlier this year, but we’ve obviously been just as eager to see third parties use the SDK to integrate MG4 support into their own products.

Late last year, Merrick & Company and Global Mapper Software announced support for MG4 in their products, MARS® (Merrick Advanced Remote Sensing) software and Global Mapper 11.01. We were very excited about those early integrations.

Last week another important integration of the MG4 technology was announced, this time by Overwatch, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a provider of imagery and geospatial solutions to Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and the intelligence and forestry communities. Overwatch is the maker of LIDAR Analyst, a plug-in for ArcGIS and ERDAS IMAGINE that provides tools for automatically extracting bare earth terrain, 3D buildings, trees and forests, contour lines, and terrain characteristics.

LIDAR Analyst is used for feature extraction by user groups requiring high-resolution terrain information. With the release of version 5.0, LIDAR Analyst customers will be able to process LiDAR data that has been compressed using LizardTech’s LiDAR Compressor.

We’re excited because, as our director of marketing Jon notes, our customers in the Department of Defense and elsewhere have frequently requested MG4 support in LIDAR Analyst, and this integration will provide them with the ability to efficiently compress their LiDAR files and use them in one of their most commonly used applications.

Overwatch is excited because, according to LIDAR Analyst’s product manager Matt Morris, “The MrSID format is best in class for raster imagery compression and we are quite pleased with LizardTech’s specific innovations in point cloud compression.”

We’re blushing, but it’s true.

The venerable Smith Tower, built in 1914 by manufacturer Lyman Cornelius Smith, is just a few blocks away from the LizardTech offices. Despite this proximity, none of us on the Dev team had ever been to the observation deck on the tower’s 35th floor, which we felt was pathetic. To rectify the situation, we went on a field trip over there today and got a big eyeful of panorama.

It was quite an experience. There are other observation spots around downtown. The most famous one is the Space Needle at the other end of the city. Most tourists go there instead. It’s a humdinger of a view, but the Needle is pretty removed from the downtown core, so that it seems a little like you’re looking at an effervescent photograph. There’s also an observation deck on the 76th floor of the Columbia Tower, Seattle’s tallest building (the curvy black one). I’ve never visited that viewpoint but I’ve seen the view from “43″ and even from half the building’s height, the city looks flat. You can’t discern any topography. It looks like you’re staring down at an aerial photo.

I thought the Smith Tower was just right. It’s pretty close to the downtown high-rises, so you get a sense of being “among” the tall buildings, but it’s posted almost like a sentinel at the southern edge of the downtown grid, so that views to the east, south and west are expansive. Also, the observation deck is only a little over 500 feet high. You can see a lot of detail in the buildings below and you still get the sense that Seattle is built on hills. We’re thinking of moving our offices. (Jealous? Here’s the link to our careers page: Jobs at LizardTech.)

I thought I’d share with you just a few of the many photographs we took.

A tall drink of water. The observation deck rings the top of the tower. Photo copyright Matt Fleagle.

This is the motor that works elevator #6. Note the famed Otis name. Photo by Walter Wittel, licensed via Creative Commons as noted below.*

Engineers drawing inspiration 500 feet above the city. From left, Walter, John, Michael, Glen, Mike, Kirk. Somehow, Chris got lost. Photo copyright Matt Fleagle.

The downtown core, with some of our old favorite buildings nestled among the newer giants. Photo copyright Matt Fleagle.

Ah, there’s Chris! And John, and the hands of Glen (we think) in the middle. They’re looking east over First Hill here. Photo by Walter Wittel, licensed via Creative Commons as noted below.*

Looking south to the historic King Street Station and to Quest and Safeco ball fields. Photo copyright Matt Fleagle.

*Image by Walter Wittel licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

GISuser’s Glenn Letham recently blogged about how he found himself unable to connect to one of our webinars via Webex’ PC client but at the last minute he noticed that the Webex invitation had also included a link to an iPhone app that he didn’t even know about. With a little quick emailing, he was able to connect after all and logged in just in time.

We didn’t know about this method either and we thought it was news worth sharing. For those of you who have an iPhone and are curious about how you might use it to attend one of our webinars, here’s the relevant excerpt from his report:

there i was, sitting in a coffee shop grabbing a cup and loading the PC client from WebEx when the app failed and wouldn’t load for me (perhaps I missed something but I looked around and couldn’t troubleshoot the problem). Luckily a link to the WebEx iPhone app was provided.

So, I simply forwarded the email with the link to my gmail account (accessible via my iPhone mail client), installed the application, and logged into my webinar… right on time. The application serves up a slide show, complete with list of attendees and ability to chat (an option to review slides would be good). The app then called me and I listened to the audio portion via phone call streamed to my headphones so i wouldn’t disturb anyone inn the coffee shop - great stuff!

Glenn’s tip is timely because we’ve got another webinar coming up on January 26 at 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. In WMS: Behind the Scenes, you’ll learn the technical details of how WMS works to serve map data to network users. Sound interesting? Why not register right now?

For more information about upcoming LizardTech webinars, visit http://www.lizardtech.com/events/webinars.php.

Do you remember the riddle about crossing the river with your fox, your duck and some corn? You only have one small canoe, so you can only take two of your possessions across at a time. The problem is how to get them all to the other side without the duck eating the corn or the fox eating the duck.

Well, we’re having our office space remodeled and the shuffling questions have been similarly complex. We’re not worried that the engineering Lizards will try to eat the sales and marketing Lizards or anything, but walls are coming down and people are having to move over and share space.

Our hardworking sales force are gregarious high-energy types that make use of plenty of joshing, banter and even some bizarre character-building rituals as part of the way they get their work done. Our engineers do their socializing in weekly meetings, then retreat to their desks to puzzle out code issues in solitude or huddled in twos or threes around each others’ computers or whiteboards. Some Lizards were wondering how long it would be possible for us all to work cheek by jowl together before the engineers would all be working from home.

It turns out that it isn’t a problem, and we’ve all been getting to know each other. The sales crew has been really considerate regarding decibels, so there hasn’t been the disruption to the engineers’ precious quiet. And in return, the development team are developing an appreciation of the job that sales and marketing does. (It turns out that these people have been selling the software we build back here). To get to our desks the engineers have to navigate sales’ slap-tunnel of amicable teasing. It seems worth it. Maybe it takes a little disruption in the routine to bring about closer inter-office relations.

In case you were wondering, we’ll still be supporting our products (and selling them!) during the build-out. We expect construction to last through late January.

Oh, and by the way, the answer to the riddle involves three trips across the river and keeping the duck away from the other two the whole time.

Happy Holidays.

Photo courtesy of Walter Wittel.

No really, I mean literally, in the alley behind our building. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) was scanning buildings in Post Alley between Madison and Spring this morning, creating LiDAR point clouds.

I ran into these guys a few months ago on my way to work, where the alley between First and Second meets University Street. As the technical writer here at LizardTech I’ve seen plenty of LiDAR data, but I’d never seen a LiDAR scanner before. I had once worked on a survey crew and used a theodolite, and thinking this was just a topographic setup I almost walked by these brightly vested crewmen and their tripod without a second thought. But then I noticed that the machine atop the legs was bigger than a theodolite and it was moving, very slowly, by itself. On the wall of the alley opposite the machine, a small green light pattern was flickering.

Since we make products for losslessly compressing and viewing LiDAR files, I was fascinated and engaged the men in conversation. On a laptop lying there on the cobbles and plugged into the scanner, they showed me how they programmed the machine using Leica software to scan from here to there, and at a desired density. A viewer enabled them to see the LiDAR data that was being captured right then, or an image of the alley from the perspective of the scanner, or both together.

They said they were scanning all the buildings within a certain radius of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which, if you’re from around here, you know is due to come down soon and be replaced with something better, or at least something newer, safer and more expensive. WSDOT doesn’t want anyone coming back after the viaduct project saying that their activity caused their building’s walls to shift or its foundation to sink.

WSDOT has to take all these measurements in the warm weather of summer, then repeat them in winter, because buildings heat up and expand enough that their outer walls actually move. Also, down by the bay, the earth expands and contracts with the ebb and flow of the tides, so they’ll have to take measurements at high and low tides. It had not occurred to me that our buildings and even the ground they sit on were breathing in and out, as it were, with tide and temperature.

You could have knocked me over with a LiDAR point.