Custom Development



	Sierra was the first Team GeoMedia Member in Canada. Through our close relationship with Intergraph we have been involved with this exciting new product since the first pre-beta release. Having recognized the tremendous potential of GeoMedia, Sierra is committed to maintaining our position as the most skilled, experienced and innovative source for GeoMedia customization. Cominco This ground breaking project exemplifies the power of GeoMedia for integrating and visualizing relationships between spatial data sources and associated business data. Working with Cominco Sierra designed this system to help identify global opportunities for mineral exploration. By merging several geographic data sources with research data and up to the minute stock information this executive information system is designed to help decision makers choose between the many opportunities to acquire junior mining partners that arise each day. This custom application uses the native GeoMedia objects to embed viewing and querying features into a MS Visual Basic application. Attribute data is stored in several data base formats including MS Access and dBAse. The VB application uses the GeoMedia objects to maintain links between earth positions of potential mining acquisitions and the associated research data for the location. Distributed Inventory Management and Activity Tracking System Sierra partnered with the Plum Creek Timber Company to create an innovate woodlands management system - DIMATS. This systems allows operational foresters to interactively create Forest Management Area plans right on their own desktop. The GeoMedia application is the center point for a collection of dozens of tightly integrated custom commands. These custom commands automated the normal workflow for creating FMA plans while retaining the full power of GeoMedia. The custom commands created for this system include: Create sub Map - The first step in the DIMATS workflow is to create a project map. The project map can be viewed as a temporary scratch pad or work area. This editable project map is created based an a user selected area of interest, scale information, etc. Using this input, all the required based maps are attached and a new FMO (native GeoMedia data format) warehouse is created. All FMA activity boundaries are added to this warehouse. View inventory Polygons - This is a command to interactively view stand inventory information. By selecting a stand polygon from the base map (attached in the sub-map command) the user can view species, volume, sample plot data, land classification, etc. for the stand polygon. Digitize Activity Boundary - This is an enhanced version of the native GeoMedia command to digitize activity boundaries. Upon digitizing the boundary polygon, the command invokes a set of customized data capture forms. Based on the characteristic of the activity unit (fertilizations, thinning, etc.) different information is collected. Once this information is stored it used to automatically crate a color theme map for the new activity. Overlay Harvest Boundary - After harvest activity boundaries are added, the forester can invoke this command to compute the projected value of timber available on the proposed block(s). The command performs a spatial overlay to merge data from the stand inventory database and the proposed harvest unit. Then this resulting information is used to overlay against deduction of non-harvestable areas (roads, etc.) Once this is complete a custom reporting module is invoked to generate the final output. Plotting Wizard - Once all proposed activities boundaries and the associated plan data are added to the project map the plotting wizard is invoked. This wizard formats the project map into a user defined map surround template. The map view image and selected legend entries are exported to a MS Excel Workbook. Other project information such at the Latitude and Longitude of helicopter pad(s), map scale, project name, etc are exported as text. Once this is done the forester can use their existing knowledge of Excel to enhance the map before printing to any network printer or plotting device. FDP Template Software development, data standards documentation, and Geomedia are key components of this project for the Information Management Group (IMG) of the Ministry of Forests (MOF). Sierra is working with IMG to document spatial and attribute data standards, and to develop a data entry software application (FDPAPP) to be used in conjunction with an existing FDP template developed by the MOF. FDPAPP will be used by the MOF to collect data for their Small Business Forest Enterprise Program (SBFEP) Forest Development Plans (FDP) and produce reports which are required as part of a FDP submission. FDPAPP will also import major licencee’s data for review. Geomedia will be used to view the FDP’s spatial data which will be prepared to the defined MOF standard. Sierra is working in partnership with the MOF to prepare a solid data model, digital data specifications document, software application, and related documentation to permit more efficient preparation and review of Forest Development Plans within the Ministry.