Autodesk Contributes Coordinate System Software

06 August 2008, 1:21pm

Autodesk has announced that it has donated the source code for CS-Map coordinate system technology to the open source community and is seeking to establish it as part of an official OSGeo Foundation project for coordinate reference systems. The contribution represents Autodesk’s third major contribution to the open source community, following its MapGuide Open Source and Feature Data Object (FDO) Data Access Technology donations.

"This contribution advances OSGeo’s mission of supporting and building the highest quality open source geospatial software," said Frank Warmerdam, president of the OSGeo Foundation. "Opening the CS-Map source code will ensure that all organisations and developers have access to this industrial-quality comprehensive library of map projections and coordinate systems, including several capabilities not previously available in open source."

“Autodesk recognises the central values of open source community and enterprise development, including faster innovation, more frequent product updates and lower overall cost of ownership,” said Lisa Campbell, vice president, Autodesk Geospatial. “By contributing the code for CS-Map, Autodesk hopes to meet users’ needs while continuing to encourage community participation in software and application development.”

Coordinate System Technology Integral to Geospatial Analysis

CS-Map is a coordinate system and map projection library that enables users to more easily support geographic coordinate conversions and allow accurate and precise geospatial analysis. It currently supports a library of more than 3,000 map projections and coordinate systems. Coordinate systems are fundamental pieces of any mapping or geospatial application and are constantly being added and updated. With open source code, the open source community will be able to develop coordinate conversions as needed and give organisations and developers access to this critical piece of technology.

Autodesk acquired CS-Map through its acquisition of Mentor Software in September 2007. CS-Map is currently embedded in most Autodesk geospatial products, including AutoCAD Map 3D and Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise.

Open Source Geospatial Projects See Further Adoption

OSGeo currently hosts 15 open source geospatial projects, including MapGuide Open Source and FDO Data Access Technology. Since the organisation's founding in 2006, its projects now represent code contributions from more than 200 developers including a base of more than 6 million lines of code.

The MapGuide Open Source project also announced the addition of MapGuide Maestro to the project, which is a new map authoring tool for MapGuide Open Source. MapGuide Maestro is a free application that eases the management of spatial data in MapGuide Open Source and has specialised interfaces for editing the following components of MapGuide Open Source: feature sources, Layer definitions, Map Definitions, Web Layouts and Fusion Layouts.
Organisations large and small are reaping the benefits of the continual updates from the community. The Resort Municipality of Whistler, British Columbia has adopted MapGuide Open Source to help promote Whistler2020—a program aimed at preserving Whistler’s environment with sustainable, eco-friendly practices. KidsGIS, an eco-friendly GIS portal developed by volunteers from the geospatial field to teach children about the environment, includes an online mapping application built on MapGuide Open Source. Both projects also draw on FDO Data Access Technology to incorporate data from multiple sources.

www.autodesk.com

OSGeo Foundation

MapGuide Open Source

Feature Data Object

Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise

Geo: International