Dotted Eyes News

Building up Open Source, Open Standards, Open Data research

Dotted Eyes is delighted to be the Gold Sponsor at the third Open Source GIS Conference which is taking place on 21&22 June at the Centre of Geospatial Science, University of Nottingham.

The event is widely recognised as one of the leading forums for discovering the latest developments and technology advances in Open Source and Open Data, and for networking and collaborating ideas for the future.

Join us on our stand where we will be showcasing Local Government Portal, our new Open Source based solution, which offers an alternative approach to web mapping.

Demonstrations will run throughout each day of the conference, so if you are interested in reducing costs through  a fully supported Open Source based solution, it is well worth paying us a visit.

You’re busy, 2 analysts in your department have recently fallen victim to the 40% ‘spending cuts’, your leave has just been cancelled and you’ve just checked your email inbox to find another slew of emails requesting the same maps you produced last week, for yet another report, with just one minor alteration. This wouldn’t be so bad, if you hadn’t just taken on a project that will require your undivided attention for the next week. Joy.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell them, in the nicest possible way, that they can access this data and download the map just as they want it, all by themselves? That it’s all there, styled in the consistent way they are familiar with at the touch of a button. You could get on with the really complicated stuff that only skilled GIS professionals can produce.

Well, you can.  Dotted Eyes has listened to people in just your situation, who are in increasing demand when there are only so many hours in the day, and devised a suite of online services to automate those routine processes, so that more users are able to self-serve their data requests.

Mapping Infrastructure Support Online (Miso) is the new online platform from Dotted Eyes that provides a range of services that help you to provide the high quality services expected of you, in the most efficient way.  Customisable modules let you choose exactly what you need, without paying for things you don’t.

Miso’s Info Share module puts the user in control.  They select the data they require, download it in the format they need and only when they need it.  Data is provided on demand ensuring a fast, effective and simple transaction process that requires minimal training and can be accessible to whomever you choose.

The Data Optimiser module ensures that the data provided is updated, translated and styled in a consistent manner, making the maps familiar, easy to understand and accurate.  Clear and concise information improves decision-making which can also help you to reduce costs.

More than 40 GIS and IT customers have already chosen Miso as their online solution and have found that they actually save time and money over manually processing transactions in-house.  With new modules soon to be released, Miso is at the forefront of innovating location based services.

To find out more, visit www.dottedeyes.com/miso

or watch our presentation

Visit our events page to register for any of the following events free of charge:

Save money through the efficient use of GIS breakfast briefings:

27th January, Birmingham

1st Febuary, Leeds

3rd February, London

8th February, Swansea

 FME 2011/FME User Group:

8th February, FME 2011 webinar

5th April, FME UK User Group, Leeds

7th April, FME UK User Group, Southampton

The latest release of FME Desktop includes:

• Point cloud support, e.g. for LiDAR
• Workspace templating for quick start/sharing with others
• Stylers for MapInfo and DWG
• Inline inspection for superfine debugging
• Improved XML handling

Try FME 2011

Register for Safe’s ‘FME 2011 Customer Webinar‘ on Feb 8th at 4pm, UK time. Hosted by Dale and Don, the founders of Safe Software it’s a great chance to find out what’s new in FME 2011, before the UK FME User Group in early April. If you aren’t able to attend, you can download the FME 2011 infosheet.

If you’re a FME user on maintenance, you can download the release from our try FME page, before your disc arrives. New users can access an evaluation version there too.

Keep up to date with FME news by following @dottedeyesltd and @safesoftware on Twitter.

FME UK User Group

The event of the year for UK FME’ers is back for the fourth time and promises to be bigger and better than ever.

Split over two venues – Leeds and Southampton – each 1-day free event in early April will provide technical ‘how to’ and ‘best practice’ sessions and the chance to talk FME with fellow users.

We’re delighted to have secured Don, the Chairman and Co-Founder of Safe Software, as the host for the event. Don’s enthusiasm for FME is well appreciated by FME User Group attendees who enjoy his relaxed, yet informative, presentation style.

Find out more.

Members of the Dotted Eyes team will be at the MUGUKI meeting on 13th Jan at Birmingham to talk about effective MapInfo licensing and our new online services which are designed to streamline the delivery of GIS services.

The MapInfo User Group is a very effective resource for MapInfo Professional users, offering peer support and regular educational meetings.

If you’re planning to attend, and would like to arrange to meet with one of our team, please contact us on 01527 556920.

Dotted Eyes, the UK based geodata and information solutions specialist, has reacted to demand for open source technologies by broadening its open source portfolio to include fixed cost open source support.  The service was developed in response to feedback from delegates at Dotted Eyes’ open source roadshow, which indicated that the perceived lack of quality support is the biggest barrier to organisations evaluating and implementing open source.

The new packages, including first and second line support on GeoServer, PostGIS and OpenLayers, augment the Open Source Spatial Starter Kit and GeoServer, PostGIS and OpenLayers training courses Dotted Eyes released earlier in the year.

Patrick Costello, Sales Director, comments: “Commercial and local government organisations are increasingly recognising the added value that open source technologies bring.  Our solutions enable customers to enjoy all of the benefits of open source, whilst minimising any risks. We are delighted that a number of organisations are exploring open source opportunities with Dotted Eyes, as our years of experience with both open source and proprietary software enable us to provide well-informed, unbiased advice.”

For more information, view our Open Source pages, call us on 01527 556920 or email info@dottedeyes.com

Dotted Eyes, data and information specialists to the UK public sector and commercial business, today announces that Birmingham Health and Wellbeing Partnership (BHWP) has selected its Health Portal solution to facilitate unprecedented information sharing at every level of the Partnership organisations.

Hot-on-the-heels of the new NHS White Paper release, which focuses heavily on shared information for patients, local authorities and healthcare professionals, the BHWP announcement marks the formal launch of Health Portal, developed by Dotted Eyes to meet the burgeoning need of healthcare professionals to access, visualise and share data through a simple and cost-effective system; freeing up the resources of data analysts and decentralising cumbersome data hubs to deliver access at the point of need.

“In many ways, the key imperatives of the new healthcare reform are already established principles of Birmingham Health & Wellbeing Partnership,” said Jim McManus, Joint Director of Public Health at BHWP.
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Dotted Eyes has launched a new solution to enable customers to set up an open source environment quickly and easily. The Open Source Spatial Starter Kit was developed in response to frustrations voiced by attendees at Dotted Eyes’ open source roadshows who were keen to implement open source but struggled to find the resource to investigate the range of software available.

Dotted Eyes’ Open Source Spatial Starter Kit enables organisations to implement spatial open source without spending valuable time researching and specing a technology stack. The Kit includes pre-selected software, installation, datasets and training. It offers a low risk opportunity to evaluate and deploy a low cost web mapping, spatial data storage and publishing application.  A launch offer includes free technical support for a year for any customers ordering before 1st October 2010.

Dotted Eyes has deployed many open source projects for customers, and uses open source software in some of its own solutions. It has recently expanded its open source capability by launching its first open source training course on GeoServer.

For more information on the Starter Kit, visit www.dottedeyes.com/opensource or call Alistair on 01527 556920.

We’re delighted to announce that Dotted Eyes is again co-hosting the free UK FME User Group. It will be held on 29th April 2010, at Ordnance Survey’s offices in Southampton.

Don Murray, Co-Founder of Safe Software, who was described as ‘fantastic, approachable and enthusiastic’ will be joining us once again to give a lively overview of FME 2010.

Over 100 attendees joined us in 2009, and all of them rated the event as being excellent or very good in terms of usefulness. The event is suited to existing users, and those who want to find out more about FME before purchasing.

This year, the event is flanked by optional training on FME Desktop (£800 ex VAT for 2 days)  and FME Server (£400 ex VAT for 1 day).

To find out more view the invitation or the agenda. Registration is available online.

We hope to see you there!

PS Sign up to our email mailing list so you are notified about future events.

Now’s the time to buy the additional licences you need or upgrade to the latest versions as Dotted Eyes is offering 10% off FME licences and MapInfo Professional purchases until January 25th 2010, even if your current arrangements don’t expire until the end of March 2010! The offer includes:

• New licences
• Upgrades
• Maintenance

And just in case you think you might get a better offer elsewhere, we also guarantee to beat any other offer you’ve had! As long as we can verify it, of course…

To benefit from this offer call 01527 556920 or email us outlining your requirements. Please quote “WEBSEASON” to receive the special pricing. Terms and conditions apply.*

*Terms and Conditions

The customer must quote “WEBSEASON” at the time of placing an order. The promotional code cannot be retrospectively applied. Orders must be received and acknowledged before the closing date of 25/01/2010. Dotted Eyes reserves the right to terminate this offer without notice. This cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer, and only applies to direct sales.