Autodesk's Contribution to the Geospatial Open Source Community Gains 'Seal of
Approval' From Developers
SAN FRANCISCO, April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LOCATION INTELLIGENCE
CONFERENCE -- Following the first anniversary of its launch, MapGuide Open
Source has achieved a new status within the Open Source Geospatial Foundation
(OSGeo) as a fully endorsed project. Originally developed as Autodesk MapGuide
software by Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), and released to the open source
community in 2006, MapGuide Open Source is a Web-based platform that enables
users to develop and publish online mapping applications and geospatial web
services.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050415/SFF034LOGO )
During its incubation process, the project's community of more than 600
members actively engaged in development and application efforts to validate
the software's functionality, viability and support. As part of the project's
graduation, Robert Bray, platform software manager and architect of geospatial
solutions at Autodesk, has assumed the role of OSGeo vice-president --
MapGuide Open Source.
"As a new open source project, it was crucial that MapGuide Open Source
show clear signs of an open development process and community involvement.
Early in the incubation process, community members were already collaborating
to identify new ways to use the technology and to request new features needed
in future releases," said Tyler Mitchell, executive director of OSGeo. "Now
that it has graduated from the incubation process, becoming an official OSGeo
project, developers can have added confidence applying the MapGuide Open
Source platform to meet their specific web mapping needs."
With more than 25,000 downloads in its first year and an average of four
to five thousand downloads per month in 2007, the software is already being
embraced by the geospatial open source community. To date, MapGuide Open
Source has had three version releases, with the most recent update in January
2007 adding direct support of KML files for Google Earth mapping service.
"As a sustaining sponsor of OSGeo, Autodesk is excited by the number of
innovative projects that open source developers are building with MapGuide
Open Source," said Lisa Campbell, vice president of geospatial solutions at
Autodesk. "This network of professionals brings new capabilities to local and
regional audiences around the world much faster than Autodesk could, if the
software were still proprietary."
One new geospatial project using MapGuide Open Source is the San Francisco
Urban Forest Mapping System, a dynamic online resource for residents,
community groups and city employees to update and share information about
trees within the city's urban forest. As the Urban Forest Mapping Project is
a community-based initiative by public and non-profit organizations, MapGuide
Open Source was the ideal platform because it offered the flexibility to adapt
the technology to suit the project's unique needs. The project partners plan
to contribute the Urban Forest Mapping Project technology to the open source
community for the benefit of other cities or organizations. The source code
for the map will be released to the open source community at
http://www.sftreemap.org.
In addition to MapGuide Open Source, Autodesk contributed its Feature Data
Object (FDO) data access technology as an open source project to OSGeo.
Autodesk is also a sustaining sponsor of OSGeo, further showing their support
of the open source community.
For more information about MapGuide Open Source, visit
http://mapguide.osgeo.org/.
About the Open Source Geospatial Foundation
The Open Source Geospatial Foundation, or OSGeo, is a not-for-profit
organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative
development of open geospatial technologies and data. The foundation provides
financial, organizational and legal support to the broader open source
geospatial community. It also serves as an independent legal entity to which
community members can contribute code, funding and other resources, secure in
the knowledge that their contributions will be maintained for public benefit.
OSGeo also serves as an outreach and advocacy organization for the open source
geospatial community, and provides a common forum and shared infrastructure
for improving cross-project collaboration. The foundation's projects are all
freely available at http://www.osgeo.org and useable under an OSI-certified
open source license.
About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the
manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets.
Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the
broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art digital prototyping solutions to help
customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies
rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world
performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance
quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk,
visit http://www.autodesk.com.
NOTE: Autodesk, AutoCAD and Autodesk MapGuide are registered trademarks
of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. OSGeo and Open Source
Geospatial Foundation are trademarks of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation
in the USA and/or other countries. Autodesk reserves the right to alter
product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not
responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this
document. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their
respective holders.
Contact: Toni Cole, (503) 471-6841
Email: toni.cole@edelman.com
SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.
04/17/2007
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Web site: http://www.autodesk.com
(ADSK)
7443 04/17/2007 08:30 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
