Australia's NSW Surveyor-General's Department Delivers Web Based Digital Imaging With Informix Dynamic Server
Business Wire - October 28, 1998 08:24
MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 28, 1998--
Informix-Powered AirView Enables Customers to View and Order Aerial Photographs of Entire State Over Internet
Informix Corp. (Nasdaq:IFMX), the technology leader in enterprise database-powered solutions, today announced that Australia's New South Wales (NSW) Surveyor-General's Department (SGD) has selected Informix(R) Dynamic Server(TM) with Universal Data Option(TM) to power AirView, the SGD's Internet-based on-line library of over 50,000 aerial photographs covering the state of New South Wales.
AirView enables the SGD's customers to view and order copies of the latest aerial photography via the Internet.
The New South Wales Surveyor General's Department is responsible for the acquisition, maintenance and provision of state cadastral and topographic information, aerial photography, survey control and selected natural resource information.
The photo library is used extensively by emergency service authorities, state and local government agencies, corporations and private individuals for general mapping processes, environmental management and for community and commercial planning purposes.
Using AirView, anyone with Internet access can visit SGD's Web site at lic.gov.au and navigate their way through a series of digital maps to find a specific geographic area. A simple mouse point and click on the desired location loads a copy of the aerial photograph of that region on the screen.
An order form can then be filled in, printed and faxed or mailed to the SGD for processing. During the coming twelve months, the SGD will extend AirView functionality to deliver a full e-commerce site, enabling customers to view, select and pay directly without having to mail or fax the order.
Prior to AirView, the SGD serviced the market for aerial photographs through a number of government regional offices. "While the system worked well, land use continually changes and photos go out of date. Keeping enough stock on hand at the same time as making sure the photo files at each office were up-to-date was a costly exercise," commented Paul Field, manager of Marketing Services, SGD.
"By placing the service on-line, we have significantly reduced the problems of outdated stock and streamlined the number of processes when ordering non-standard photos. Also, with many of our customers in regional NSW, the on-line library offers far greater access to our services than physical offices could ever have achieved," he added.
At the heart of AirView is the Informix Dynamic Server database. Tony Rooke, executive manager, IM&T Services explained, "For this project we canvassed the market and ultimately felt that the DataBlade(R) module approach of Informix was a unique and powerful method for intelligently handling images with a spatial connection.
"Informix has the lead in its ability to manage spatial data and in its interfaces with a number of popular graphical information systems (GIS) applications. We felt it was the best choice for our project with plenty of power and scalability as our needs grow."
The front end of the application was developed in-house with initial support from Informix consulting staff. During the development of AirView, over 55,0000 photographs were scanned into the system, all as low-resolution images to ensure minimal loading time for Internet based viewers.
Each year, the SGD expects to update approximately 12,000 of these images. An HP UNIX server houses the database, while a second acts as the Web server.
About Informix
Informix Corp., based in Menlo Park, provides innovative database products that assist the world's major corporations to attain competitive advantage. Informix is widely recognized as the technology leader for corporate computing environments ranging from small workgroups to very large parallel processing applications.
Informix's database server, application development tools, superior customer service, and strong partnerships enable the company to be at the forefront of major information technology solution areas including data warehousing, high performance OLTP, and Web/e-commerce. For more information, contact the sales office nearest you or visit our Web site at informix.com.
Note to Editors: The following are trademarks of Informix Corp. or its affiliates: Informix(R), Informix Dynamic Server(TM), Universal Data Option(TM), DataBlade(R) and the Informix logo which is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
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CONTACT: Informix Software, Inc.
Christina Dort, 650/926-1046
cdort@informix.com
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