In This Issue

1. From The General Manager
2. Geospatial
3. Document Express
4. Where is LizardTech?
5. Customer Wins and Case Studies
6. Employment Opportunities

From The General Manager Jim White discusses a number of workflow trends, feature requests and new technologies that will impact the arena of geospatial image transmission and storage in the future.

Geospatial

The biggest news for LizardTech's geospatial products was the release of GeoExpress 6.1 in August. We've had great success with version 6.0, and we think you'll be even more excited about the additional features we've added. With GeoExpress 6.1, you can now use GML (Geography Markup Language) to represent geospatial metadata in JPEG 2000 imagery. GMLJP2 was approved by the Open Geospatial Consortium earlier this year as the standard way to represent geospatial metadata in a JPEG 2000 image, and will help further interoperability in the future. GeoExpress makes creating GMLJP2 images easy; just choose "JPEG 2000" as an output format, and GML metadata will be added automatically.

With the launch of GeoExpress 6.0 in January, we introduced some color balancing tools to make it easier for our customers to create eye-pleasing mosaics. However, there were some limitations to this, as GeoExpress 6.0 could only apply uniform corrections within each image. While this works well for many workflows, some of our customers told us that they needed more advanced functionality, and we listened. Now with GeoExpress 6.1, you can perform more advanced color balancing workflows such as vignette, seamline, and tilt correction, all within the GeoExpress workflow you're already familiar with! Tools like this make it easier than ever before to quickly manipulate and compress imagery for your projects or for delivery to customers.

Finally, GeoExpress 6.1 integrates with LizardTech's optional Spatial Express plug-in for Oracle Spatial. LizardTech Spatial Express enables you to store your MrSID or JPEG 2000 imagery natively in Oracle Spatial, allowing you to save up to 95% of your disk space by compressing your images as "visually lossless." Additionally, because the images are stored as efficient wavelets rather than pixels, there is no need to pyramid imagery, meaning you can reduce the time needed to load imagery dramatically. With GeoExpress 6.1 you can now choose to output your imagery directly to an Oracle Spatial database, simply by graphically browsing to the database and table you want to use. Now you can take advantage of the scalability and robustness of Oracle Spatial and the ease of use of GeoExpress to store large raster datasets in a database. Learn more about LizardTech Spatial Express and the advantages of using a database to store raster images.

In July, we released version 6.1 of the DjVu Browser Plug-in. There were several important fixes and enhancements in this release but the real news was "Secure DjVu."

Secure DjVu ("SDjVu") is available now. The SDjVuAdmin tool converts existing DjVu files to their secure counterparts. The current Windows DjVu Browser Plug-in reads both types of files. Internally, SDjVu uses 32-bit Blowfish encryption to password-protect each document and provide role-based and/or time-based access. Externally, a Secure DjVu file is as light and nimble as a regular DjVu file. Used by companies like Condé Nast Publications, BAE Systems, Nikon and most recently the National Archives of Singapore, SDjVu is an appealing option for large organizations which must make high-value or time-sensitive content very accessible. Inquiries should be directed to sales@lizardtech.com.

Where Is LizardTech?

• South Florida GIS Expo, October 5-6, 2006 - Palm Beach County Convention Center, West Palm Beach, FL
  

• New York State GIS Conference, October 23-24, 2006 - Crowne Plaza Resort and Golf Club, Lake Placid, NY
  

• MAPPS/ASPRS 2006 Specialty Conference, November 6-10, 2006 - San Antonio, TX
  

• GEOINT Symposium, November 13-16, 2006 - Orlando, FL

Customer Wins and Case Studies

This quarter we added two more customer success stories showcasing the benefits our geospatial products bring to our valued customers.

The first success story comes from the State of Maine's Department of Transportation and it showcases how the department saves storage space and speeds up image distribution using GeoExpress. The second one comes from Pinnacle Mapping Technologies, Inc. where they used GeoExpress to create mosaics in multiple resolutions and projections. View both of these success stories in their entirety on our website.

In addition, starting this month through December 31st we are running a Spatial Express promotion offering two free days of onsite installation and training to anyone who purchases Spatial Express. To take advantage of this limited offer, simply contact your sales representative at 1-866-725-5211 or 206-652-5211 or e-mail spatial@lizardtech.com.

Lastly, please be sure to visit our media page where you can read the latest articles about our products.

Employment Opportunities

LizardTech is seeking great talent. To learn more about current opportunities, please visit: Jobs at LizardTech.