Exelis Visual Information Solutions Works with Esri to Provide Imagery Everywhere
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- By Matt Ball | 24 July 2012 | 357
Exelis Visual Information Solutions held a morning press briefing this morning at the Esri International User Conference alongside Esri imagery representatives to discuss the relationship and image processing technology. Exelis Vis is very focused on the coming together of imagery, remote sensing, and GIS. Over the past years, working with Esri, they have made advancements in pulling the two worlds together. The relationship enhances the answers that can be extracted from imagery into the GIS context to make better decisions, and solve the world’s problems in better ways.
The recently released Exelis ENVI5 software opens up more capabilities with ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online - enabling the pulling and pushing of imagery to enterprise and mobile platforms. This release of the ENVI software adds a reworked user interface to make the software easier to use and more accessible, with a rich set of analysis tools that are very extensible. The direct integration with ArcGIS includes Geodatabase read and write and a direct link to ArcGIS Map to push products directly into the GIS environment.
Kurt Schwoppe, Esri federal manager for Imagery Solutions, focused on the shared values between the companies. The thing that binds the two companies together is the passion and promise for remote sensing. The companies are working together closely to find solutions for customers, making sure the message and the technology is compatible and complimentary.
ENVI tools “supercharge” ArcGIS for Imagery, with interoperability and integration that advance image analysis, streamlined workflows, and extend ability to access and exploit remote sensing data from all sensor platforms. The integrated and simplified workflow captures tradecraft in a process that is accessible to any GIS discipline. Imagery exploitation tools are exposed based on target-specific criteria with dedicated image services that provide a baseline for fine tuning analysis.
Exelis plans to extend the access to imagery through desktop, mobile and cloud, providing solutions-based exploitation capabilities. The goal is to remove the “know your data” requirement for analytical processing and expose algorithms with available data to achieve the problem solving objective.
The new Exelis E3De 3.1 LiDAR data processing software complements ArcGIS 10.1 LiDAR capabilities with 3D feature extraction and the ability to produce standard products derived from LiDAR including bare earth, digital elevation models, and more.
Early next year, Exelis will release the ENVI Services Engine that will tie in nicely with ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online. This is an evolution of current serving products to process imagery on a server through a REST interface. It will allow the creation of integrated mobile clients on multiple mobile platforms, extending imagery everywhere.
In closing, the companies underlined their customer-centric philosophy that it’s not about selling software licenses, it’s about solving problems. The companies interact directly to enhance their products and their integration, continuing to expand ability to ingest and exploit sensor-derived data. Upcoming functionality includes the ability to read in full motion video, to expand into additional 3D formats, and to enhanced time-based decision making.