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Figure 2bVexcel’s UltraCam-X captured this stunning imageryover Graz, Austria during overcast and rainy conditions.Figure 3The Vexcel UltraMap Server integrates with theUltraCam and UltraScan devices, easily ingesting aerial imagery. Witha robotic library and large disk space, data can be safely stored,archived and catalogued using spatial references for the imageheader. From there, Vexcel’s UltraMap WorkSuite delivers automatedand radically improved photogrammetric production.Figure 4Vexcel’s FotoG is the leading close-range photogrammetrysystem used to take precision measurements and create 3Das-built CAD models directly from photographic imagery. FotoG alsoallows users to apply photo textures to 3D building polygons displayedin the CAD environment, as pictured here.////Today, ‘geospatial’ is////the hot word around////the Internet.2bthe acquisition of GeoTango Corporation, a Torontobasedprovider of desktop and Web-based 3D geospatialvisualization and mapping products and solutions.Then, on March 15, 2006, Microsoft entered into anagreement to purchase remote sensing company VexcelCorporation. The deal was completed May 4, 2006.Why did Microsoft acquire Vexcel, and what rolewill Vexcel play? For over twenty years, Vexcel Corporationhas been a leader in imagery, photogrammetry, andremote sensing technology. Vexcel has long been knownfor its expertise in synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Morerecent prominence has arisen from the highly successfulUltraCam digital aerial mapping camera. Vexcel has135 full-time employees and is headquartered in Boulder,Colo. (with additional operations in Canada, Austria,the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands). As partof Microsoft, the company remains headquartered inBoulder and has retained all of its field offices. John Curlander,former CEO of Vexcel, is now General Managerreporting to Stephen Lawler, who is General Manager ofVirtual Earth. The vast majority of the current Vexcelteam continues to report to Curlander within the VirtualEarth team. Vexcel will also continue to develop, sell,and support its full line of products.Virtual Earth is central to Microsoft’s significant investmentin local search. The local search market is estimatedto be tens of billions of dollars annually. Microsoftis making a major bet that winning in local searchwill revolve around providing the best visuals and richest,most dynamic data that can be viewed and used in amapping and local geographical context.Vexcel’s experienced engineering team and rich set ofproducts and services will play a central role in helpingMicrosoft deliver on its vision to provide a dynamic, immersivedigital representation of the real world for VirtualEarth. Microsoft has an incredibly talented teamof people already working on this vision. To achieve thegoals for local search quickly, Vexcel was an obviouschoice to augment the team.Vexcel will contribute in the following three ways:The first contribution will be through its people. Vexcel’stalent pool, coupled with extensive experience in 2Dand 3D imagery, will be critical to delivering the most immersiveexperience possible on the Web. Vexcel will takethe lead in providing an automated imaging pipeline thatwill enable rich sets of aerial, bird’s-eye, and streetsideimagery to be delivered to consumer, commercial andpublic sector offerings in a much easier and more timelyfashion than is currently possible. Vexcel will also play acentral role in creating the ‘real world’ foundation that22 s u m m e r 2 0 0 6 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m
4enables new information and immersive mappingexperiences to be added continuously tomake Microsoft’s offerings as much like the realworld as possible.The second contribution will be through Vexcel’scurrent technologies, which will be importanttools for producing the richest, most dynamicsets of imagery and data in the world. Thesetechnologies support the Virtual Earth vision inthree key areas: photogrammetric mapping, radarmapping, and high-speed data handling.Photogrammetric mapping technology is thefoundation for much of the imagery in VirtualEarth. Over the last decade, Vexcel has becomea major supplier of photogrammetric products— including a full suite of products and servicesfor automated photogrammetric production.Strengthening this position in the mapping andGIS field, Vexcel introduced its UltraCam largeformat digital camera in 2003. It has been theleading digital aerial camera in sales for the pasttwo years. Along with Vexcel’s UltraScan5000precision photogrammetric film scanner, theUltraCam serves as a front-end collection device for Vexcel’s fully digitalphotogrammetric workflow (see Figures 2a and 2b).This workflow also features the UltraMap Server for archive, catalogand production management, and the UltraMap WorkSuite for automatedphotogrammetric production (see Figure 3). Rounding offits photogrammetry capabilities is Vexcel’s FotoG close-rangephotogrammetric software, which allows users to make measurementsand to create 3D textured models from imagerycaptured by digital, handheld cameras (see Figure 4).Vexcel has built its mapping and photogrammetric capabilitiesin support of the aerial photogrammetry market.Virtual Earth will drive a considerable need for aerial photogrammetryproducts and capabilities. Vexcel’s UltraCam andautomated photogrammetric workflow will play a fundamentalrole in meeting this need.Radar mapping technology will ultimately provide an importantcomplement to Virtual Earth’s optical imagery. Radarprovides information about the Earth that cannot be obtained byany other means. Vexcel’s innovative advancements in new syntheticaperture radar (SAR) image formation and processing technologiesinclude digital elevation models (DEMs), interferometry,tomography, shape-from-shading, and the ability to combine radarwith high-resolution optical data, to name just a few (see Figure 5).The company has also recently made advances in radar tag developmentand wireless field instrumentation. Vexcel’s radar capabilities3w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o ms u m m e r 2 0 0 623
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