Pitney Bowes Inc. announced completion of the acquisition of MapInfo Corporation. Now MapInfo will be called as PB MapInfo Corporation. The merger followed the successful completion by Magellan Acquisition Corp. of a tender offer for all outstanding shares of MapInfo at $20.25 net per share in cash. Pitney Bowes, having 87 years of technological leadership, provides the world’s most comprehensive suite of mailstream software, hardware, services and solutions to help companies manage their fl ow of mail, documents and packages to improve communication. www.pitneybowes.com.

Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging announces the acquisition of all assets of Earth Resource Mapping Ltd (ER Mapper), a geospatial software company headquartered in Australia. ER Mapper is a provider of geospatial imagery processing solutions that prepare, manage, compress and deploy imagery, thus complementing Leica Geosystems’ existing product portfolio. Both the companies product portfolios will be maintained and new solutions will be developed using existing technologies.

It also announced the Beta release of Leica TITAN and launch of the Leica TITAN Network. Its a 3D virtual globe having dynamic online solution that allows users and communities to share geospatial and location-based content in a single, secure environment.

The DG14 RTK from Magellan is a cost-effective, sub-meter GNSS (GPS + SBAS) + Beacon receiver. “DG14 RTK represents for dozens of expanding markets the right technology and the right solutions for the right price,” said Francois Erceau, general manager of Magellan Professional.

Wide-Format Imaging magazine readers have voted the Contex Crystal G600 42” professional scanner the best large format scanner on the market. The magazine’s second annual Reader’s Choice Top Products awards recognize imaging products that have generated the most industry excitement and are making a big contribution to their customers’ businesses. The scanner delivers a variety of built-in features that make high-quality large format scanning simple, fast and cost-effective.

CSI Wireless Inc. offi cially changed its name to “Hemisphere GPS Inc.” at its annual general meeting In conjunction with this, the Company’s website and email domain name has been changed to www.hemispheregps.com. The name change communicates the reemergence of a pure-play GPS company following the discontinuance of the Company’s wireless businesses in 2006.

It also introduced the LX-1, a new L-Band (OmniSTAR compatible) differential GPS (DGPS) receiver board. The LX-1 improves position accuracy of Hemisphere GPS’ Crescent(R) Receiver Technology to sub-meter measurement. www.hemispheregps.com.

BLADE™ technology by Magellan is a proprietary GNSS processing solution that makes possible centimeter-level accuracy for real-time and post-processing surveys and mapping operations. It combines ranging and carrier phase data from two satellite systems, GPS and SBAS, for superior satellite coverage and signal reliability to enable rapid, centimeterlevel solutions. Magellan’s BLADE is the fi rst GNSS processing system that uses SBAS ranging and carrier phase measurements in the RTK data processing.

Trimble introduced two new products as part of its Connected Site model - the Trimble R7 System with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) capabilities and the Trimble MultiTrack Target for both passive and active optical targeting. www.trimble.com

CoPilot Live 6, from Travroute Australia is the new generation of ALK technologies GPS navigation software for windows-based mobile phones and PDAs. A phone or PDA equipped with the software 6 provides drivers with portable satellite navigation, complete with turnby-turn voice guidance, postcode, detailed street maps etc. www.travroute.com.au

A black box - Track Master 33, manufactured by Hitech Point Technologies for GPS based vehicle’s tracking is now available in Chandigarh, India. The data is transmitted using GPRS and can give seven-second updates on the location, speed, distance travelled and stoppage details of a vehicle. http://cities.expressindia.com.

The African Geodetic Reference Frame (AFREF) is conceived as a unifi ed geodetic reference frame for Africa the fundamental basis for the national and regional reference networks. In March, the fi rst permanent GNSS reference station was launched in Kenya. Leica Geosystem supports the project with its knowledge, as well as via donation of a complete system.

With its newly launched Version 1.4, Leica fi eldPro enhances the support of various sensors in a mobile CAD and all information captured is structured according to the fi nal deliverable.

The meet was organized on June 1st 2007 to outline Autodesk vision for Design Software Industry. There were interesting presentations focusing on the importance of the technology in an overall context of economic growth. The presenters aligned the technology with current needs of development and ongoing developmental schemes by the government at various levels. The contention was that with the rapid growth experienced by all the sectors of the Indian economy, Autodesk plans to empower customers in diverse industries to experience, change and improve ideas early in the design process, thereby save time and money, improve quality and increase innovation with state-of-the-art 2D and 3D technologies. The meet was addressed by Rajiv Nair, Regional Director, Manideep Saha, Head-Infrastructure Solutions - Autodesk India & SAARC region along with other business heads. Mr. Nair gave an overall economic context for the implementation and importance of the technology whereas Mr. Saha mentioned various schemes of the Government of India where this technology could effectively be applied. He also emphasized on the ATC training programs run by Autodesk and its partners to cater to the needs of training requirement. Coordinates also caught up with Mr. Nair during the meet excerpts of which are as follows

Autodesk is on a mission to enable companies to experience ideas before they are real, with 2D and 3D design tools that help customers to fully leverage the power of design innovation. As design leaders, Autodesk is committed to support the transformation of the Indian economy and help Indian companies compete at a global level.

How do you see the opportunities visà- vis impediments for the growth of geo-information technologies?

I must say that opportunities are real. The strong economy and ubiquitous presence of information technology has created a very positive atmosphere of growth. The population of 'young' India is increasing and so are the standards of living. To meet their aspirations, we have to have good infrastructure to support the growing population. There are of course, a few impediments in India, as they are anywhere else, and I am sure they will be addressed to appropriately in time. It is a time of great opportunities and I believe that the best is yet to come.

In Autodesk, we have what we refer to as the 'Countrifi cation' kit. We have specifi cally developed packages that suits the needs of a specifi c country. However, we feel that in India, while the software can deliver a few things, on the other hand, the country should also work for standardization in data formats from the union level to the local level that will help in optimization of the technology. We have more than 100 training centers all across the country and the number is constantly growing. These training institutes are offering courses on GIS and the courses are not specifi c to Autodesk only. The best part is the participation of faculties of various universities and institutions in this process.