PCI Geomatics, a world-leading developer of image-centric software and solutions for the geospatial industry, is pleased to announce it has been awarded a contract with GeoConnections to develop innovative technology for the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI).
GeoConnections is a national program led by Natural Resources Canada. The program is collaborating with a range of public and private sector organizations to expand and enhance the CGDI, an on-line resource that enables decision-makers to access, combine, and share geospatial information over the internet and gain new insights into social, environmental, and economic issues. GeoConnections’ current priority areas include public health, public safety and security, the environment and sustainable development, and Aboriginal communities.
"Our Government is investing in innovative technologies to improve Canadians’ access to information on community planning, resource development, and public health and safety," said The Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources. "Partnerships such as this one with PCI Geomatics, will also help ensure the long-term prosperity and competitiveness of Canada’s geomatics sector."
The project will upgrade the PCI commercial Web Coverage Server (WCS) OGC 1.0 compliant technology to the OGC WCS 1.1 specification and will develop an “Image Correction Appliance” to orthorectify satellite imagery and publish the images via the WCS specification. Project collaborators include Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and Public Safety Canada. The upgraded software offering will enhance the CGDI by allowing users with similar needs to those of project collaborators to more easily contribute WCS services into the CGDI network.
“This project is key as it offers us the ability to discover, share and access imagery via standards-based and an interoperable environment. Access to a broad range of imagery data stores, including the most recent or best available imagery information will allow the INAC community of practice to gain a better understanding of the First Nation, Inuit, Métis and Northerners Land in support of its mandate,” says Hélène Lachance, Manager of Geomatics Services, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
A WCS is a web service which returns a geographic “coverage” of the earth’s surface, in response to a defined and standard request type. This commercial product will lower the complexity and total cost of ownership of WCS servers. Additionally, the project will develop an innovative capability to automatically correct satellite imagery anywhere in Canada, using existing GeoBase data as control, allowing organizations to publish data to national standard-level accuracy without in-house expertise.
The system is aimed at organizations having small to medium imagery archives and the Image Correction and Server Appliance would be pre-configured with web coverage servers and services to allow for the ability to access over 100+ image file formats. The software is built upon PCI Geomatics Generic Database technology (GDB), and will automatically gather and store the necessary metadata and accept simultaneous requests for discovery and production of raster imagery data.
“The result of this project will mean increased productivity, cost savings and increased turn-around time for the delivery of best available situational awareness knowledge derived from satellite imagery in a highly reliable and efficient manner,” said David Stanley, Chief Technology Officer at PCI Geomatics.
Source: PCI Geomatics
