Pitney Bowes Business Insight claims the latest version of its Geographic Information System (GIS) software delivers significantly improved analytical capabilities and workflow.
The program, Encom Discover 12, has also been bundled with the company’s Encom Discover 3D modelling software as a combined package for the first time.
According to Owen Parfrey, the chief architect for natural resources at Pitney Bowes, the improvements were driven by customer feedback.
“In order to keep up with customer demand, we have added support for huge remote data sensing sets, such as Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR), to the package,” he told Australian Mining.
“We have also added a capability to import and visualise seismic data in three-dimensional sections and made improvements to our drill hole generation and plotting tools.
“These changes will help our clients in the environmental engineering and exploration geology sectors extract the most from their data.”
Parfrey said the software package’s versatility meant it could be used for a variety of applications in sub-sectors of the mining industry.
“It is really designed to give anyone using a GIS all of the geoscientific tools that they need to perform the majority of their work,” he said.
“Our customers come from all parts of the industry, from the environmental side if the business, to engineering, geology and even government agencies.
“So the software can do tasks such as near-mine environmental management, resource estimation, planning exploration drill holes, collecting geochemical samples and even managing mineral exploration permits.”
According to Parfrey, the company also made enhancements to the software features designed for these sub-sectors.
“We have enhanced some of the environmental tools by improving access to different datasets and we have worked on some of the hydrological modelling capabilities,” he said.
“Mining and exploration companies deal with a huge variety of data, so we also focussed on data interoperability and ensuring it is easy to visualise all of the data in three-dimensions.
“We wanted to make the software much more capable of processing large datasets so that any repetitive work can be minimised.”
Parfrey believes the integration of the three-dimensional visualisation engine with the base Discover product will also be advantageous to mining customers.
“Now any Encom Discover user can view three-dimensional models that have been created by Encom Discover 3D users,” he said.
“So that really makes it much easier for organisations to disseminate information and share and collaborate on ideas.
“I think the benefits of this version are going to be felt across the board and I expect our users will see strong productivity improvements after upgrading.”
Parfrey said the company would continue to fully-integrate all of its products so they can be used under one banner across an enterprise-level platform.
“We are looking at combining a high-energy physical processing capability with three-dimensional visualisation, modelling toolsets and advanced GIS into an enterprise platform,” he said.
“We are also integrating our data discovery and web mapping technology, so really we can offer a system that is far more efficient and offers optimum productivity for investment.
“I think this will make the package a much more valuable tool for sharing, disseminating and analysing data."
Features:
- Allows the integration of exploration data from multiple and varied sources into one, unified GIS environment.
- Can capture spatial information from historical maps for the evaluation of sampling data, grid creation, or to enhance maps and sections.
- Aerial and satellite photography can be accurately positioned with the image rectification capabilities.
- These images can also be permanently reprojected to remove the confusion of datasets with differing projections.
- Can create maps of any size and scale that include all related spatial data objects, grids, contours, graphics overlays and legends.
- A range of data pre-conditioning, interpolation and processing tools can help reveal trends and associations in the data.
- The drill hole module can help plan, visualise and perform detailed analyses of drill holes and costeans in cross- and long-sections.
- The spatial context of all the data is kept consistent across the board, meaning everything can be overlayed and incorporated if need be.
- The program is designed to work with special purpose design, modelling, analysis, and planning systems, which makes data accessible across an entire organisation.
- Read and write data in over 100 industry-standard database, image, vector and grid formats.