Cambridge UK, 12th December 2006
1Spatial (formerly known as Laser-Scan) has become a Foundation Sponsor for the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).
As part of this move to greatly increase the possibilities for spatial data quality control over the Web, 1Spatial is integrating FDO (Feature Data Objects) with their flagship Radius Studio™ component-based architecture. FDO was originally authored by Autodesk but is now open source software, granted to the OSGeo as a sub-project of MapGuide Open Source. In a recent press release from Autodesk there was reference to the MapGuide Open Source community, which currently numbers over 600 members. They have downloaded the code more than 23,000 times and the FDO source code has been downloaded 3000 times. These community members can now link into the Radius Studio environment and join the rapidly increasing community enjoying the ability to assess and control spatial data quality across the web.
The OSGeo has declared its mission to promote and support the development of open source tools focused on mapping and geospatial analysis. Again through FDO, Radius Studio will now have access to all the 'providers' (specific application programming interfaces to access spatial data in particular formats) to allow users to connect to spatial data in various formats, e.g. ESRI Shape or ArcSDE or WFS.
“ We are pleased to have this support from 1Spatial. As a company with well-known data quality expertise, their enthusiasm around OSGeo and the FDO technology is encouraging. We welcome their participation in our open source communities and look forward to working alongside them ”
,. stated Tyler Mitchell, Executive Director of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation.
At the recent executive partner launch of the 1Spatial Partner Community, a live demonstration showed Tele Atlas data stored in Shape files being aggregated or conflated against OS MasterMap® data stored in Oracle. This involved using Radius Studio's data discovery component to identify any spatial or attribute-based relationships between the Tele Atlas and OS MasterMap data. The discovery tool identified that whenever a Tele Atlas network feature intersected a MasterMap topographic area, the topographic area was 'Man-made' and was a 'Road, Track or Path'. This is the kind of relationship expected from two extremely high quality datasets. The demonstration then went on to show Radius Studio accessing data located in a WFS in British Columbia, then performing discovery and conformance tasks to establish the quality of that data across the Web.
Michael Sanderson, CEO, 1Spatial commented:
“ If Google is all about making access to information universal then our mission has to be to ensure the quality of those spatial data elements being accessed and shared across the Web. In 1999 PIRA estimated that the then value of spatial data collected in the public sector was $36billion. The replacement cost is in excess of $100billion today. And that is just for the European Community. As initiatives like INSPIRE come to fruition, the Internet will be the choice of access and delivery medium for sharing spatial data. Fitness for purpose will be paramount in sharing data effectively. The work that Autodesk and the OSGeo have done to create this community is exemplary and we are at an exciting stage where we are just entering this domain. We encourage the community to become Radius Studio Practitioners and make use of FDO through OSGeo. ” Spatial data are valuable and benefit can be obtained through their efficient, multi-purpose reuse. The modern era demands the unconstrained sharing of spatial data between systems, business areas, organisations and the public. 1Spatial enables such co-operation through their work with organisations like Autodesk and OSGeo.
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