Press Release

Next release of Cadcorp SIS to offer support for Ordnance Survey MasterMap data as standard.

Digital mapping and GIS software developer Cadcorp has announced that the next release of Cadcorp SIS – Spatial Information System – Version 6, will offer support for OS MasterMap as standard throughout the product range. Cadcorp SIS Version 6 is scheduled to be launched at GIS 2002.

Developed by Ordnance Survey, the British National Mapping Agency, OS MasterMap information was first made available to interested parties towards the end of 2000. In February 2001, Cadcorp SIS was acknowledged as the first commercial GIS to demonstrate the loading, display and manipulation of OS MasterMap data. OS MasterMap encompasses several new ways of managing and providing large-scale digital data to Ordnance Survey customers. Ordnance Survey envisages that OS MasterMap will eventually replace its current flagship digital map data product, Land Line. The new product introduces significant changes that have implications for the way large-scale base mapping data is provided, stored, used, updated and priced. Significantly, OS MasterMap is provided in GML2 (Geography Mark-up Language v2.0) format, which is an OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) standard for data distribution.

Cadcorp SIS currently reads over 50 GIS, CAD and other data formats ‘on-the-fly’ without recourse to translation. This facility comes as standard, at no additional cost. Amongst the many additions to Cadcorp SIS introduced in Version 6 is a GML2 plug-in dataset, which allows the loading of OS MasterMap data directly.

“Because Cadcorp SIS doesn’t have to alter the data when it is loaded, all the structural integrity of OS MasterMap is retained”, says Chris Holcroft, marketing manager, Cadcorp. “Other GIS products work by offering ‘log-based’ translation routes from GML2 or Gzip to other formats, like SHP and MIF/MID, which are incapable of maximising the benefits of OS MasterMap’s topological structure. In addition”, he adds, “Cadcorp SIS can be used to load OS MasterMap data directly into almost any database, including Oracle9i, SQL Server and Access 2000”.

Cadcorp SIS users can choose to use Editable BLOBs (Binary Large Objects) to store topological information or alternatively, OpenGIS SQL92 will allow ‘Simple Features’, i.e. points, lines, areas, to be stored. These methods suit themselves to topological and independent polygon OS MasterMap data respectively and both are theoretically possible in any database.

Cadcorp SIS also supports multiple user direct read and write to Oracle 9i Spatial (Object Relational Model) which allows all of a user’s data to be read from OS MasterMap GML straight into Oracle 9i, at no additional cost.

Alongside these capabilities, Cadcorp recognises users’ needs to maintain their OS MasterMap databases and shortly will be releasing a free utility, the Cadcorp SIS OS MasterMap Loader, for batch uploading OS MasterMap GML and appending the database in order to handle the regular ‘change-only’ updates from Ordnance Survey.

“Cadcorp has long prided itself on first rate support for Ordnance Survey digital map data,” says Holcroft. “We first provided on-the-fly reading of NTF at no additional cost in Cadcorp SIS more than five years ago. With the introduction of OS MasterMap it’s business as usual. We are offering various options for different types of OS MasterMap user.”

New facilities in Cadcorp SIS V6

Cadcorp SIS V6 will be the latest version of an integrated line of GIS products first introduced to the market in 1995. As now, the Cadcorp SIS V6 product suite will cover desktop, Web and developer offerings, all originating from a single installed executable, guaranteeing across-the-board compatibility.

The established product mix of Cadcorp SIS ‘off-the-shelf’ software modules, namely Map Viewer, Map Manager, Map Editor and Map Modeller, remains. Because of their market success, the ActiveX modules for Map Viewer, Map Manager and Map Modeller will also continue as runtime platforms for third party developers keen to embed Cadcorp SIS capability into their applications using the Cadcorp SIS Software Developer Kit (SDK).

The Cadcorp SIS Active Server Component (ASC) for Web-based GIS applications has been implemented widely around the world, with installations in the UK at Ordnance Survey, Ernst & Young and Medway Council. This flagship Web product will also remain in the Cadcorp SIS line-up. Highlights of Cadcorp SIS V6 include continuous panning, allowing a smooth rolling scroll from one data view to another; support for ADO (Active Data Objects); a new database connection Wizard to streamline database connectivity; and support for user defined ‘plug-in’ gazetteers.

Furthermore, users can now input and output user defined naming conventions for Index Datasets. This means that any datum changes occurring over time can be accommodated in Cadcorp SIS.

New dataset capabilities include improved support for Oracle 9i data stored in the object relational model; a new Cadcorp format called SDS (Shared DataSet) to allow multiple users to edit the same file concurrently using Object Locking; a GML2 plug-in dataset providing support for reading the new OS MasterMap digital data standard format from Ordnance Survey; an updated ECW plug-in to support ER Mapper Image Web Server, S57 – the hydrographic charting standard; the ability to create and link to existing OpenGIS WFS (Web Feature Server) and OpenGIS WMS (Web Mapping Server); and updated SHP file support, along with the popular raster formats, TIFF, LZW, GIF and PDF. In addition, a new data source to allow data to be loaded into Cadcorp SIS using the Feature Manipulation Engine (FME) from Safe Software has been added.

Officially certified facilities

Significantly for UK users, Cadcorp now offers an officially certified product that creates and links land parcels (called polygons) to the National Land Use Database (NLUD) and the Land and Property Gazetteer (LPG) database and populates the database and land parcels with several compulsory fields of descriptive information. It also exports to NLUD specified data formats and validates the data entry exercise. With notification received on 18 June, 2001, Cadcorp was the second GIS software company to receive NLUD accreditation.

In addition and as a result of the company taking a leading role on the OpenGIS Consortium Technical Committee, Cadcorp SIS is the only GIS product family in the world that is OpenGIS certified conformant for Simple Features (vector data) across the board. Further, recently obtained OpenGIS certification for Coordinate Transformation Services (which makes Cadcorp the only dual OpenGIS certified company in existence) means that the internationally definitive projection library from the European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) is also supported. The recently adopted OpenGIS specification for OLE DB Provider has been added to Cadcorp SIS V6, along with the OpenGIS raster data interface, Grid Coverages and support for the Web Mapping Testbed and Servers.

Martin Daly, technical director, Cadcorp, states, “Many of the long-established fundamentals of Cadcorp SIS software that our customers have enjoyed over the years, such as common product interfaces, product integration, map re-projection on the fly, command transparency, data integration, dynamic map layout rotation, snap-to features and many more, are something that other larger, perhaps less agile vendors are now seeking to emulate in their own products. This confirms that Cadcorp SIS has been at the forefront of GIS software development and the adoption of OpenGIS standards for many years. It is our intention that it remains so”.

About Cadcorp SIS

Cadcorp SIS - Spatial Information System - is a suite of Windows-based and Web-enabled end user and developer digital mapping and geographic information system (GIS) software products. The suite comprises: Map Viewer, which provides support for over 45 graphic and data formats, thematics and hard copy; Map Manager, which provides the mainstream user the ability to view, explore, query, symbolise and print digital map and associated tabular data; Map Editor, which in addition to the facilities provided by Map Manager, provides the GIS data custodian with tools to view, manage and edit map and tabular data; and Map Modeller, which adds 3D modelling, terrain analysis and several thematic and analytic mapping tools.

Cadcorp ASC (Active Server Component) extends the functionality of Cadcorp SIS for use over the Internet or a company-wide intranet. It is a dynamic, server-side Web-based GIS, not merely a map publishing tool for pre-authored images. Cadcorp ASC provides a true, interactive Web-based solution for real time map creation and analysis.

About Cadcorp

Established in 1991, Cadcorp is a leading developer of digital mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) software. With offices in the USA and UK, Cadcorp's distribution and VAR network stretches world-wide. The company also plays a pivotal technical role in the OpenGIS Consortium. Cadcorp SIS is the only complete product family to currently attain OpenGIS conformance certification.

Cadcorp SIS (Spatial Information System) is a range of software modules covering spatial data viewing, data management, data editing, data modelling and analysis. Cadcorp SIS ActiveX components are available for embedding into third party systems. Cadcorp ASC is an Internet/intranet developer toolkit designed for Web based GIS solutions. Cadcorp SIS applications exist in municipal government, central government, emergency services, insurance, oil & natural gas, mapping and surveying, commerce and many other markets.

ENDS

For further information, contact: Chris Holcroft, Tel: 01438 747996, e-mail: chrish@cadcorp.com

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