MoreTeam ERDAS, comprised of a select group of leading companies, has been chosen for yet another technical spiral under the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's (NIMA) Soft Copy Search (SCS) research and development program. Leading Team ERDAS are Leica Geosystems Defense Solutions (Alexandria, Va., USA), ESRI (Redlands, Calif., USA), Earth Satellite Corporation (Rockville, Md., USA), Optia (Altoona, Pa., USA) and Integic Corporation (Washington, DC, USA).
The SCS contract, initially awarded on 8 July 2002, marked the beginning of a multi-phased program to develop technology for NIMA to completely transition imagery exploitation to a digital environment. The Leica Geosystems team has earned additional follow on awards to continue to refine the state-of-the-art tools for rapid insertion into the NIMA exploitation structure. When this technology is fully deployed, it will revolutionize the way NIMA performs its image analysis mission by providing analysts an end-to-end soft copy imagery exploitation environment.
The solution presented by Team ERDAS revolves around ERDAS IMAGINE's image exploitation capabilities and incorporates its partners' strengths to meet NIMA's requirements. Leica Geosystems' partners play unique, pivotal roles in the Team ERDAS solution. Integic Corporation provides the business process automation software e.POWER for dynamic data management support. Earth Satellite Corporation brings expertise in image exploitation and the creation of scientifically sound analysis tools, while ESRI contributes its proven commercial GIS software experience and data management technology. The entire solution will operate on Optia's computers, the hardware of choice for the U.S. Marine Corps.
By combining the proven talents of each entity, Team ERDAS presents a powerful solution to one of NIMA's most pressing challenges.
"The strength of our team's experience places us in an exceptionally strong position to fulfill NIMA's soft copy search vision. We are aggressively implementing the technologies and methods needed to ensure NIMA's success in this partnership with industry," said Bob Krieger, Defense Program Manager, Leica Geosystems Defense Solutions.
Team ERDAS continues to provide two fully functional SCS prototypes to NIMA, along with training and onsite support for evaluation during each development and evaluation spiral. Each rapid development and prototyping spiral involves delivering a tightly-integrated system using the best elements of each team member's commercial off-the-shelf products designed to meet NIMA requirements and user expectations.
Source: Leica Geosystems GIS & Mapping, Oct. 21, 2003
