Company: ESEA
Industry: Cartography, Data Quality and Maintenance

Mountain View,CA--ESEA, a leader in geographic information system (GIS) integration technologies, today announced two new software products for tremendous cost and time savings in merging maps to integrate GIS data.MapMover™ aligns maps to precise geometries to create an entirely new map.MapMerger™ performs conflation by automatically aligning maps or GIS data and transferring attributes such as addresses or utility (water, gas, electric, sewer, etc.) information in a comprehensive integration process.In this way, MapMerger can combine the spatial accuracy of one map with the attributes of another.These two products extend the functional capability of ArcView, ArcEditor or ArcInfo from ESRI's industry-standard ArcGIS™ Desktop software suite.They are the first products to enable automated conflation and map alignment with the ArcGIS Desktop suite.

MapMover
MapMover simplifies the task of aligning one map representing line features, such as roads, rivers or utility infrastructure, to another more spatially accurate map.At the press of a button, MapMover automatically finds control points to link intersections in each map.MapMover's "super-warper" technology enables extremely precise and rapid "rubber-sheeting" of selected line sequences of various lengths such as highways or rivers.MapMover automates a time-consuming process, accomplishing in seconds what might otherwise take hours to perform.

MapMerger
Rather than aligning two maps as with MapMover, MapMerger automates the transfer of attributes from an attribute-rich but location-inaccurate source to an attribute-poor but spatially-precise map, such as merging TIGER files from the U.S.Census Bureau with street centerline base maps developed from aerial ortho photography or GPS data.Attributes such as address ranges and associated road names can be transferred to a precise street centerline base map.In addition, attributes such as ZIP code ranges, utility information and other details can be easily integrated.Other applications include automatically adding or updating with new data from the latest maps or data sources; integrating new source layers; or producing a map indicating differences or changes between data sets. MapMerger automates a labor-intensive manual process with very high levels of accuracy.It can, for instance, automatically match and transfer attributes for approximately 2,000 road features in less than three minutes, a task that would require many hours if done manually.Its graphical quality control tools enable the hands-on reviewing and editing of the automatic conflation to further ensure highly accurate results.

High-Speed, High-Accuracy
Both MapMover and MapMerger utilize sophisticated algorithms in an iterative matching process for high-speed and highly accurate results.MapMerger can also automatically split line features, such as street segments for the one-to-one matching required for attribute transfer.Both apply built-in intelligence during the matching process by comparing the number and angle of adjacent line features and working within a maximum search distance as identified by the user.In addition, MapMerger analyzes attribute names, such as knowing that "st." may be an abbreviation for "street".It also correctly handles directional attributes, including address left/right and ZIP code left/right.Match information can be saved as simple ASCI files for ease of operation.Both products support very large data sets, such as several counties or even an entire state.

MapMerger and MapMover are based on an earlier Unix-based product from ESEA that has been used in production environments since 1998.The products are powerful and comprehensive but also easy to use and offer great flexibility.

Pricing and Availability
MapMover and MapMerger are available in two versions: Standard and Plus, and a Professional version of MapMerger is also available.The Plus version adds important capabilities to the Standard version in the way it saves match information and accommodates multiple users, and it is best suited for commercial and government environments.Pricing for the Standard version of MapMover is $2995 U.S.and $3995 U.S.for MapMerger for a single PC/workstation license.The Plus version of MapMover is $4995 U.S.and $5995 U.S.for MapMerger for a single license.The Professional version of MapMerger, combines the powerful features of the Plus version of both products in one fully integrated package, and is available for $8995 U.S.MapMerger is available immediately, and MapMover will be available in March.

The products run on Windows 2000, Windows NT or Windows XP.Technical support and software maintenance are provided through an annual support fee, and consulting, training and customized implementation services can be arranged.The three products are available in the U.S., Canada, European Union countries, several other European countries, Japan, Australia and New Zealand directly from ESEA at http://www.mapmerger.com.

MapMover and MapMerger are trademarks of ESEA.ESRI, ArcEditor, ArcGIS and ArcView are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community or certain other jurisdictions.