Trimble acquires Definiens' Earth Sciences Business to expand its GeoSpatial portfolio

Trimble and Definiens, a Germany-based company specializing in image analysis solutions, today announced Trimble’s acquisition of Definiens’ Earth Sciences business assets and licensing of its software technology platform in an all-cash transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Definiens’ Earth Sciences business includes eCognition software, an advanced image analysis software suite for geospatial applications that facilitates fast and accurate geo-information extraction from remote sensing imagery. The "original" object-based image analysis (OBIA) software has been used by industry leading data providers, remote sensing professionals, and university researchers in urban planning, forestry, agriculture, energy, insurance, and security for nearly a decade. eCognition software is scalable and offers a comprehensive range of tools to create powerful image analysis applications that can handle all common data sources, such as medium- to high-resolution satellite, high-resolution aerial photography, laser scanner, radar, and hyperspectral data.

"eCognition software speeds the creation of answers from geospatial sensor data," said Ken Spratlin, general manager of Trimble’s GeoSpatial Division. "Timely and accurate answers can empower organizations to operate more efficiently, with less waste and rework, and provide enhanced capabilities for decision making. We see significant potential to realize synergies between eCognition and Trimble’s geospatial technologies as well as other solutions that may include image analysis."

"Trimble’s acquisition of Definiens’ Earth Sciences business is a perfect fit for both organizations," said Thomas Heydler, CEO of Definiens. "eCognition offers Trimble world class image analysis capabilities to complement its broad range of geospatial products and solutions, while allowing Definiens to dedicate its focus to image analysis in the healthcare industry."

The patented Definiens Cognition Network Technology was developed by 1986 Nobel Laureate Prof. Gerd Binnig and his team. The technology platform emulates human cognitive processes of perception to extract intelligence from images. The power behind the innovative technology is its ability to quickly and easily transform user knowledge and domain expertise into automatic routines. Definiens applies advanced machine learning concepts to train the software and render this knowledge in a production environment, enabling the software to automatically process millions of images.

The operating results of the acquired business will be reported within Trimble’s Engineering and Construction segment.