AzTechSoft

In This Issue:

Issue #1
May 18, 2004

Welcome
What's new at AzTechSoft.com
GPS2CAD
   Using GPS2CAD
   The Latest News
   AutoCAD 2005
GPS Review
Cool Links
Architecture - Engineering - Construction
Find a Resource - Link your site

Take another look!

If "you looked" at GPS2CAD, and haven't purchased it yet we invite you to take another look here.

Welcome to AzTechSoft Newsletter

The AzTechSoft newsletter will keep you informed of the activities at AMC, the www.AzTechSoft.com website, the latest developments with our software, and important industry news. We know that "Content is King", and we expect to provide information that you can use.

What's new at AzTechSoft.com

We have made several recent additions to AzTechSoft.com in an effort to make the site more beneficial to visitors and software owners alike. Among the changes are:

	We've added the GPS2CAD help files to the site as a downloadable .pdf file. This will make it easier to read and print the document as a whole. You can download them here.
	We published a "Magellan Workaround" that will let Magellan GPS owners use GPS2CAD with just a few extra steps. That file is available here.

Using GPS2CAD

This is REALLY COOL! We put together a demonstration of how GPS2CAD can be used by capturing points from AutoCAD and Viewing them online on Aerial Photos, Topo Maps, and Tiger maps. Along Cherry Creek - our first demo that shows how to integrate a digital map inside of autocad with the online map viewing capabilities of GPS2CAD.

The Latest News about GPS2CAD

GPS2CAD continues to improve with maintenance releases as necessary, and the development of a "dot net" version that will greatly expand it's capabilities. Some of the features that the "dot net" platform allows us to do is:

	"Live Zoom" of the pictures from Terraserver-usa. This means once the picture is retrieved from the server, you can zoom in on it just as with any graphics program. The Lat/Long referencing remains true.
	The use of "Web Services" to consume a greater range of data from Terraserver-usa
	Magellan interface - we are working on expanding the interface to include Magellan GPS units, as well as others - but Magellan first.

We'll tell you more about what's planned in future issues of this newsletter. The release date isn't set yet, other than a target of this year, hopefully 3rd quarter.

Compatibility with AutoCAD 2005
I'm sure by now you're aware that AutoCAD 2005 is on the market. We haven't had the chance yet to test GPS2CAD with it to insure the compatibility, but expect to have this done shortly. We'll let you know when this is complete.

Our Favorite GPS (for now)

We are frequently asked which GPS unit to buy. The available selections are confusing at best, and Garmin especially is constantly rolling out new models. For pure sporting/recreation purposes, the Rhino series seems to be a good buy because it is a two way radio as well as a GPS unit. Of course you have to have at least two for it to make sense, but they send your GPS position to the other receiver - so you can see where your other friend, or kid, or buddy is, and go there if you need to. That seems like a great idea, for safety as well as recreation! You can see Garmins description at http://www.garmin.com/products/rino/ . The suggested retail price is $194.27, don't forget to buy two.

For business use, the Map 76 series seems best for one main reason - it has a larger screen than most other units. Plus it's flat (unlike dashboard models) and fit's easily into a pocket and it has additional features that improve it's accuracy. You can see Garmin's description at http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap76/ . The suggested retail price is $321.41

Cool Links

If you're just plain nosy sometimes, there's an interesting organization called the Degree Confluence Project ( www.confluence.org ) that is dedicated to finding and photographing all the locations on earth where degrees of latitude and longitude intersect. Ever wonder what's located at 32deg N, 112degW. ? If you're interested, you can go to www.confluence.org and view a picture of it if someone has captured it, or you can go there, take a picture of it and send it in! (of course you could use GPS2CAD to view an aerial photograph of it if it's within the US).

Architecture - Engineering - Construction

A great resource for news and articles in this industry is www.AECbytes.com. The site is a comprehensive look at the AEC industry by Lachmi Khemlani, PhD. She has written extensively on CAD, BIM, and AEC technology in various industry publications such as Cadence, Autodesk Toplines, Augiworld, and AEC Automation Newsletter, and has given presentations before both academic and professional audiences.

The latest article there is entitled The Web Services Technology and its Implications for AEC and descrbes how this new technology affects the AEC software industry. In a nutshell, web services are website based "dispensors" of data or programs, that can be incorporated into other software programs at the desktop level. For example, the .net version of GPS2CAD uses web services to query, capture and download the maps, aerial photos, and demographic data from the Terraserver-usa site, and bind them into a program that runs at your desktop. Terraserver-usa has made the information available through "Web Services", and GPS2CAD runs at the desktop while consuming those "Web Services". It's an emerging and important technolgy that you should at least be aware of.

Find a Resource/Link your site

AzTechSoft maintains an extensive and well organized link site where you can find a resouce or publicize your own site. It is dedicated to the Architectural, Engineering, and technical communities, and we don't take links outside of that. If you'd like to view it, click here, and to list your own site, click here. It's so popular we're running behind in adding the links, but if it qualifies, we'll get it listed!