I-Site News

September 2008

Maptek I-Site Users Conference

Maptek held an I-Site Users Conference on August 12-13 in Denver. The conference was attended by users from sites around the country as well as I-Site staff from Australia.

Interactive presentations by both staff and attendees gave tips on new enhancements and offered ways to use the hardware and software in different applications. Scott Schiele, I-Site Senior Technical Consultant for the North American region, presided over the event and showed attendees new features in the most recent release, I-Site 3.1.

James Howlum, I-Site Development Team Leader, presented future plans for I-Site and obtained feedback from attendees about features they’d like to see incorporated. He also unveiled the I-Site Mobile Mapping system that enables scanning through a specially outfitted vehicle. Other I-Site staff offered tips on how to use the hardware and software more efficiently in daily tasks.

June 2008

The next level of scan processing 

Maptek I-Site Studio 3.1™ represents the latest advance in the mining industry’s favourite scan processing software. We’ve listened to what I-Site Studio users have been asking for, and have spent many months adding fantastic enhancements to deliver even more meaningful results from scan data.

Top 10 Enhancements in Studio 3.1

• Apply photographic imagery to any modelled surface using drag and drop functionality
• Build animations effortlessly – simply specify a series of key frames to generate a movie
• Tie multiple window views together with a click of a button
• Remove stray spikes caused by dust, vegetation or other structures in 2D surfaces with a simple right click operation
• 2D text remains visible in all visualisation modes
• Handle new file formats such as Optech IXF formatted scans, custom ASCII file formats; also group .txt formats into scans, points and survey point categories, customise imported ASCII file format
• Break apart contours into individual lines
• Register scans to an underground frame for stope surveys
• DataEngine enhancements such as faster compaction of large DataEngines and improved DataEngine stability
• Automatically detect a USB storage device and prompt to import scan files from it

March 2008

I-Site Studio™ now imports Optech point cloud data

Maptek™ has enabled direct file import functionality of Optech ILRIS-3D point cloud data (IXF format) into its I-Site™ Studio software.

Maptek I-Site Studio offers an impressive range of software tools developed specifically for laser scan data processing. Large point datasets can be efficiently interrogated, modelled and manipulated on a desktop PC or field laptop.

ILRIS-3D is a laser-based ranging and imaging system for the commercial survey, engineering, mining and industrial markets. 

I-Site Studio software is the newest option for Optech customers aiming to meet or exceed their point cloud data processing objectives. The direct import of Optech’s ILRIS IXF data into I-Site Studio allows Optech system users to realise the benefits of the most effective solution for point cloud data processing.
Steven Wong, I-Site Director of International Business Development for Maptek.

December 2007

Innovation grant for Maptek

Maptek has been awarded an Innovation & Investment Fund SA grant, enabling us to increase production of Maptek I-Site™ 3D laser scanners. A total of 27 new jobs is expected to be created in Maptek’s Adelaide-based operation over the next 6 years as a result of the A$975,000 grant. With matching Maptek funding, the project is valued at $1,950,000. The grant will allow Maptek to diversify and expand the manufacturing capacity to cover emerging products in a rapidly changing field.

As laser scanning moves into the mainstream of modern survey practice, customers are increasingly seeing the benefits of an integrated solution to their surveying needs. A company such as Maptek, with a 26-year history providing high technology solutions to the mining industry, is ideally placed to deliver this.
Simon Ratcliffe, Maptek I-Site Global Product Manager

December 2007

Maptek I-Site Service Center

Maptek is pleased to announce that our North American I-Site Service Center is now fully operational. Hardware issues can be diagnosed promptly and the majority of scanner repairs can be handled locally. Turnaround time for standard annual service and calibration of I-Site 4400 scanners for our North American customers has been reduced to between 2 and 3 weeks.

Located in the Maptek office in Lakewood, Colorado, the center is staffed by Service Technician Thomas Chauncey, with support from senior I-Site team members Sales Manager, John Dolan, and Training and Technical Support Consultant, Scott Schiele. Thomas has considerable experience in test engineering support, and has completed 2 months of factory-certified training at Maptek’s I-Site manufacturing facility in Adelaide, South Australia.

Maptek constantly pushes the boundaries to improve I-Site product performance. Encouraged by feedback from users, each scanner series features new developments. We have extended the measurement range, increased robustness and portability, and added functionality.

I-Site products have received awards for innovation and engineering excellence. The dedicated team of technicians, hardware and software engineers continues to apply high professional standards to product development. Our customers can be confident that they are using a product which will help their industry meet its goals.

Services

• Annual maintenance
• Cleaning and servicing
• Diagnostics and repairs
• Hardware support

The creation of the I-Site Service Center in Denver will benefit I-Site clients in reducing downtime when annual maintenance or emergency service is required. The addition of Thomas to the I-Site North America team has given us a high level of technical hardware expertise and allowed us to more rapidly meet our clients’ needs.
Maptek I-Site Business Unit Director, John Dolan

October 2007

International Edition of Maptek I-Site Studio 3.0 released

The International Edition of I-Site Studio 3.0 has been released following beta testing. The release is designed to cater to the needs of our increasingly diverse international customer base.

The Studio release incorporates an automatic language function based on the local settings of the PC. New language capabilities added are Modern Chinese, Spanish, German, American English and Japanese.

Modern Chinese	Spanish	German	American English	Japanese
(Click images to enlarge)

October 2007

Project report for erosion control

Early in 2007, Rowena Morris from the School of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Adelaide, South Australia, approached Maptek for help in the application of the Maptek I-Site laser scanning system to erosion monitoring. Her preliminary results were presented in poster format at the Bushfire CRC conference in Hobart, Tasmania in October 2007. Read more - download poster (pdf 205 KB)

October 2007

Laser scanning for stockpile measurements

Maptek I-Site provides the ideal solution for measurement of both outdoor and indoor stockpiles, and is an easy way of deriving accurate volumes. Because laser scanning gives a far more detailed model of the surface than other methods, it improves the accuracy of the final result.

Read more - download case study (pdf 236KB)

June 2007

Extreme conditions and warm relations for Maptek I-Site

The Diavik Diamond Mine is located on a 20 square kilometre island in Lac de Gras, approximately 300 km by air northeast of Yellowknife, capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories. The Arctic Circle is only 220 km north of the mine. A 350 km ice road supplies the mine site for four months of the year.

Read more - download case study (pdf 172KB)

June 2007

Maptek I-Site Users Conference

The first North American I-Site Users Conference took place in April, in Maptek Denver’s state-of-the-art training facility. The conference began with an introduction to new features in I-Site Studio 3.0. Improved data processing, management and storage, AutoCAD compatibility, complex solid volume calculations involving nested shells, and the ability to import high resolution photo-mapped scans into Vulcan software were covered. The second day of the conference saw attendees demonstrating how they import their data and use it in the software. To conclude, attendees provided input on future generations of I-Site hardware and software. The information gleaned from the event, along with the personal contacts established, was beneficial for both attendees and staff.
	Attendees (l-r): Henry Simwanza, Peabody Energy, Caballo Mine; John Dolan, I-Site; William Wren, Alcoa, Sandow Mine; Scott Schiele, I-Site; Toby Minear, University of California, Berkeley; Michael Becenti, Peabody Western Coal Company; Don Flynn, Arch Coal, Black Thunder Mine; Jimmy Williams, Arch Coal, Black Thunder Mine; Robert Group, Anglo Gold, Cripple Creek Mine; Jeff Kucera, Peabody Energy, Caballo Mine

June 2007

Maptek I-Site Global Summit

The 2007 Global Summit on I-Site products, technology and business was held in Adelaide, South Australia, from April 17-19. Presentations from all regions on sales, technical services and product developments provided a global perspective on current status and future pathways.

I-Site staff from Australia, North and South America, and South Africa discussed regional differences in the sales experience. The presentations explored how various obstacles and difficulties were handled. Useful feedback was gathered by software and hardware development teams. Through live software demonstrations, technical services speakers invited participants to critique the software and learn how problems actually get solved. Product development sessions covered new features and enhancements, with discussions on needs and priorities for future releases

Top: (l-r): Mark Pfitzner, Andrew Myers (Adelaide), Scott Schiele, John Dolan (Denver) 2nd row: Gastón del Valle, Gastón Rodríguez (Viña del Mar), Simon Ratcliffe, Anthony Gibbs (Adelaide) 3rd row: James Moncrieff (Adelaide), Laurence Hope (Johannesburg), Mirela Bordean (Adelaide), Thomas Chauncey (Denver) Front: Elton du Plessis (Johannesburg), Jason Richards (Victoria), Luke Czaban (Brisbane), Steve Wong, James Howarth (Adelaide)