Software, hardware short takes …

BG, dGB, Paradigm, Lynx, Mercury, Geodynamic, Caesar, Leica, Neuralog, Quorum, Safe, Schlumberger.

BG Group is sponsoring dGB’s OpendTect package with enhancements to functionality, visualization and performance. Improvements include pre-stack displays and the efficient use of clusters. The software will be available as open source and some of the BG contribution will go towards the Madagascar plug-in project.

Paradigm’s ‘Common Reflection Angle Migration’ high-resolution subsurface imaging solution is now available for worldwide customer licensing, as well as use by Paradigm’s consulting group.

Lynx has just announced Seis-Map, an ESRI ArcGIS add on for display of seismic data. SeisMap was originally developed for ION (previously Input-Output).

3M Dynatel has announced an electronic marking system of RFID ‘marker balls’ that can transmit precise location and identity information of pipes, valves, bends and other buried assets. The balls can be combined with GIS and GPS systems to avoid excavation accidents.

Mercury Computer Systems has announced ‘Avizo Earth Edition’ for high-end 3D visualization. Avizo was previously marketed as Amira.

Geodynamic Solutions has announced Layer Wizard, an ArcGIS extension for identifying, loading and symbolizing spatial data from Geodatabases and shapefiles.

The new 6.1 release of Caesar Systems’ Petroleum Ventures & Risk (PetroVR) package includes ‘Monte Carlo on Scenarios’ for comparison of probabilistic analyses over multiple scenarios.

Leica Geosystems has released Image Web Server (IWS) 8.5. Previously an ER Mapper product, IWS is a high-speed server for high volume geospatial image data. IWS provides online processing of images, transforms and mosaics. New technology serves scale dependent images from Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant Web Mapping Services (WMS). IWS 8.5 provides over 3,200 predefined coordinate systems, 1100 datum shifts and 50+ mathematical projections, local and global vertical datums.

At the February NAPE tradeshow, Neuralog was demonstrating new functionality in NeuraMap. NeuraMap, traditionally a map digitizing application, now performs calculating volumetrics and reserves calculations and automatically generates summary reports.

Quorum Business Solutions has released Quorum GIS 4.0, an ESRI ArcGIS 9.2-based version of its mapping solution. Quorum GIS extensions for ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Desktop lets users develop, manage and secure layers, maps and plats. Other tools assist with data capture workflows—including ‘rich’ textual and spatial search capability, data capture for metes and bounds, an aliquot (quartering) tool and batch polygon generation from legal descriptions.

Safe Software has announced FME 2008 which includes a new FME Server application. FME Server is an ‘enterprise-scale’ spatial extract, transform and load (ETL) that supports users inside and outside the organization. A scalable, service-oriented architecture (SOA) is used to centralize spatial data conversion and distribution tasks. FME Desktop now supports multiple formats and database formats including Oracle 11g and Microsoft SQL Server Spatial 2008. KML 2.2 and GeoJSON are also provided for web services connectivity.

Schlumberger’s new ‘WellWatcher’ fiber optic technology targets harsh, high-temperature wells. The distributed temperature acquisition system (DTS) provides ‘rugged reliability’ for permanent real-time monitoring.

This article originally appeared in Oil IT Journal 2008 Issue # 3.

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