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GIS and Mapping

Cadcorp Software Gets A Major Redesign

May 12, 2011


Cadcorp announced its latest release – Cadcorp SIS 7.1. All Cadcorp desktop GIS products are now based on the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface, with the result that using SIS 7.1 is now a very similar user experience to that of using other Microsoft Office products. Cadcorp considers the user interface to be more intuitive, easier to learn, easier to use and the company anticipates that end users will benefit from substantial productivity gains. 

Martin Daly, Technical Director, Cadcorp, explained the rationale for completely redesigning the interface of Cadcorp SIS software. ‘”The GIS industry isn’t immune from a problem that besets any complex software product. As new functionality gets added, so a product’s user interface can become cluttered and hard to navigate. It made sense for us to take a lead from Microsoft by standardising on a Fluent-based user interface.  Cadcorp was one of the earliest GIS software developers to adopt Microsoft Windows as a development platform and we have maintained a reputation for keeping in step with developments in mainstream IT.” 

According to the announcement, users can now generate hot-spot maps quickly and easily using Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) techniques. The quality of cartographic output has been enhanced through a combination of new label detection methods, the inclusion of de-cluttering algorithms and new text placement functionality. Maps can now be published in Microsoft XPS format. Cadcorp has also paid attention to further improving the interoperability and productivity of SIS.  All products in the Cadcorp SIS family are now available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions: to the clear benefit of high specification server-based systems.  Performance and reliability will be improved through the inclusion of a Master/Slave option for the web engine GeognoSIS.  The new release includes a ‘plug-in’ for Safe Software’s Feature Manipulation Engine (FME). There is support for raster in PostGIS and SQLite databases. Map drawing performance has been improved through the use of hardware accelerated graphics. In addition, Cadcorp is delivering a metadata management application at no additional charge.

Cadcorp has introduced a number of new web products to the market. These include off-the-shelf applications for sharing geographic information both within an organisation (Web Map Viewer & Editor), and with the general public (Web Map Layers). The company has also responded to the growing demand for web mapping applications that don’t require an extensive range of geo-processing capabilities, and priced two new products - GeognoSIS Express and Web Map Express - accordingly.

“We believe SIS 7.1 offers something for all types of GIS users”, said Mike O’Neil, CEO, Cadcorp. “Those who use GIS most intensively will benefit from the productivity improvements brought about by the new user interface. All users will benefit from the wider distribution of spatial data that our web products support. Developers who need to deploy web mapping as a component of larger applications will benefit from the simplicity and value-for-money of our Express product range. Their web mapping applications can now have the look and feel of the most widely-deployed hosted web-mapping solutions, without being dependent on a particular data set.”

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