Press Releases

LizardTech Unveils GeoExpress 6.1 at the 2006 Annual ESRI International User Conference

New Release Comes Equipped with Advanced Color Balancing and GMLJP2 Support

SEATTLE, Wash., – Aug. 7, 2006- LizardTech, a division of Celartem, Inc., and a leading provider of software solutions for managing and distributing digital content, today announced the release of GeoExpress 6.1 at the 2006 Annual ESRI International User Conference held at the San Diego Convention Center. This updated version comes equipped with non-uniform color balancing, geography markup language (GML) for JPEG 2000 (JP2) support and enables users to easily load imagery directly into Oracle Spatial via the GeoExpress graphical user interface (GUI).

Known for taking imagery beyond compression with a robust suite of image editing and manipulation tools such as multi-resolution mosaicking and image reprojection, GeoExpress now offers non-uniform color balancing for even quicker and easier distribution of raster imagery. As part of the current workflow, automatic or manual adjustments for color balancing allow customers to control brightness, contrast and histograms for each color band within an image. In mosaics of tiled images, in addition to applying corrections uniformly across a tile, GeoExpress 6.1 adds the option to make non-uniform corrections within tiles such as for tilt and vignetting.

Additionally, GeoExpress 6.1 allows GML metadata to be added to JPEG 2000 imagery in conformity to the new Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) GMLJP2 standard. “This is an exciting update for our customers,” said Jon Skiffington, product manager, “because prior to the adoption of GMLJP2, the lack of a geospatial metadata standard meant that applications and viewers may not have been able to read geospatial metadata in a JPEG 2000 file. The expanded use of GMLJP2 will help advance the adoption and interoperability of JPEG 2000 as a geospatial image format.”

Another key feature of GeoExpress 6.1 is its integration with LizardTech’s Spatial Express application. Customers are able to optimize their investment in their Oracle^® Spatial 10g, an option to Oracle Database Enterprise Edition, by storing raster imagery natively in MrSID^® and JPEG 2000 formats. Spatial Express allows users to reduce the storage space used for raster imagery by up to 95 percent while retaining visually lossless image quality. In addition, they can now select an Oracle database and table to output to directly from within the GeoExpress GUI, making it easier than ever to load MrSID and JPEG 2000 imagery into Oracle Spatial. Thanks to LizardTech’s industry-standard MrSID geospatial image compression format and the ISO standard JPEG 2000 format, customers can store, manage, and access images that are hundreds of gigabytes in size more efficiently from within their Oracle database.

The GeoExpress 6.1 product family consists of an Unlimited Edition that includes the Tools suite and unlimited image compression functionality; a Standard Edition that includes the Tools suite as well as an allotment for image compression; and a Tools Edition for a low cost, powerful edit-only application where image compression is not required. A license server is also available which permits the management of “floating” GeoExpress licenses for distribution among team members who periodically need access to the software.

Pricing and Availability

GeoExpress 6.1 is available for download and purchase now. The price breakdown is as follows:

GeoExpress 6.1 Unlimited starts at a suggested retail price of $7,900.
GeoExpress 6.1 Standard Edition starts at a suggested retail price of $2,900.
GeoExpress 6.1 Tools starts at a suggested retail price of $1,500.

Visit us at the 2006 Annual ESRI International User Conference in booth number 511 for a demo of GeoExpress 6.1 and learn more about this latest announcement.

For more information about the latest features or to learn where to purchase GeoExpress 6.1 visit the GeoExpress Homepage.

About GeoExpress

GeoExpress offers the benefits of both MrSID technology and ISO standard JPEG 2000 without any compromise in image quality. In addition to lossless encoding, which preserves images with pixel-for-pixel fidelity in a compressed format easily reusable in downstream applications, GeoExpress provides valuable image manipulation tools such as reprojection, non-uniform color balancing and area of interest encoding.

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.