Data Management & Visualization: Married Or Separated?
Large users of geospatial data are searching for alternatives to Google Earth Enterprise (GEE), which Google will discontinue in the spring of 2017. Several geospatial companies offer partial replacements, though their offerings differ somewhat from each other and from GEE. The first installment in this series, in the Fall 2015 issue, “The Demise of Google Earth Enterprise: ArcGIS Earth & Vricon Fill the Gap,” covered two of the possible alternatives to GEE. This installment covers three more companies that can provide at least a partial replacement to GEE: Galdos Systems Inc., which makes INdicio; Skyline Software Systems, which makes SkylineGlobe and TerraExplorer; and Onix Networking Corp., which integrates Skyline software into organizations’ IT systems.
GEE is an on-premise, 3D application that many organizations use behind their firewall to control who has access to their data. It stores and displays huge amounts of imagery, as well as terrain data. One use of the terrain data is to search for line-ofsight paths between locations. For example, companies setting up microwave stations want to make sure that there are no mountains, hills, or buildings between their proposed locations.
The demise of GEE leaves a big space to fill.