FOSS4G: Autodesk To Donate Map Projection Technology to Open Source Geospatial Community

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Autodesk has announced that it plans to donate map projection technology to the geospatial open source community. Autodesk has acquired the technology from from Mentor Software which was founded by  Norm Olsen.  Mentor Software’s map projection libraries support over 3,000 different world map projections and provides capabilities not previously available to the open source community.  Mentor Software’s map projection software is widely used around the world.  Autodesk has been using it for many years in AutoCAD Map 3D and Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise.

The additional really good news is that Mentor Software’s founder and principal, Norm Olsen, will join Autodesk as a senior software engineer.

Currently, Autodesk is preparing the source code for submission to the OSGeo and expects to donate the software
as an OSGeo open source project by the end of 2007.

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

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