Intergraph's Open Interoperability Grant Program Awards Initial Grants in Support of Open Standards.

Business Editors

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 2003

Award recipients benefit from expanded interoperability

and improved operational efficiency

Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (NASDAQ:INGR) announced it has awarded the first 20 among 100 available grants to qualifying organizations through the international Intergraph Open Interoperability Program, established to promote and emphasize the use of OpenGIS(R) specifications from the geospatial industry standards body, the Open GIS Consortium (OGC). The program, valued at more than $5.5 million (U.S.), enables organizations to leverage disparate data from multiple sources - regardless of vendor brand, format or platform - to easily and dynamically publish data in open, industry-standard formats to the Web. Organizations maximize the reuse of spatial data while eliminating time-consuming data translation and reducing integration requirements and associated costs.

"The Royal Thai Survey Department, a major producer of Thailand's map data and distributor of geospatial data, is pleased to be a recipient of the Intergraph grant," said Col. Krith Bunthid, Chief of Map Information Center, Royal Thai Survey Department. "Currently, queries for map and spatial data can only be done in person or over the phone. With the help of Intergraph's technology, we can provide unlimited access through an open standards-based Web portal, saving time and costly delays."

The program focuses on development and deployment of open standard spatial data infrastructures based on internationally accepted best practices. Grants awarded to organizations that want to increase public access to geospatial information, provide a national center for mapping excellence, develop a national spatial data infrastructure and increase access to critical spatial data help bring the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure organization's goals for worldwide spatial data sharing closer to reality.

Focusing on the development and deployment of compatible spatial data infrastructures based on internationally accepted best practices, grant recipients will benefit from expanded interoperability and improved communication enterprisewide. Organizations from all over the world are among the initial grant recipients, including:

-- National Mapping and Resource Information Authority,

Philippines

-- Cartographic Institute of Catalonia, Autonomous Government of

Catalonia, Spain

-- Multnomah County, USA

-- Matanuska-Susitna Borough, USA

-- Dallas County, USA

-- Jo Daviess County Government, USA

-- The National Coordinating Agency for Surveys and Mapping

(BAKOSURTANAL), Indonesia

-- Royal Thai National Survey Department, Thailand

-- Geographic Information Management, Belgium for the European

Space Agency

-- Geo-informatics and Space Technology Development Agency,

Thailand

-- Forest Management Institute, Czech Republic 

-- East Midlands Development Agency, United Kingdom

-- Runder Tisch Geoinformationssysteme e.V., Germany

-- Stadt Bochum Vermessungs- und Katasteramt, Germany

For more details on the projects being undertaken for the grants, please visit http://imgs.intergraph.com/interop/grant.asp.

"We are delighted with the quality, depth and geographic distribution of the applications received to date," said Fiona McKee, Interoperability program manager, Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions. "The initial grant recipients are involved in projects that will make a significant impact on building open interoperability standards within national and international communities. The grant program confirms Intergraph's commitment to the advancement of OGC interoperability standards for immediate access to up-to-date spatial data for daily business decisions or in crisis management."

For more information on the Intergraph Open Interoperability Grant Program or to submit an online application, visit http://imgs.intergraph.com/interop/grant.asp or http://imgs.intergraph.com/interop/documents/ Interop_ApplicationForm.doc.

Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions

Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions is a leading geospatial solutions provider for the following markets: local, state and federal government; transportation; utilities; communications; location-based services; photogrammetry; remote sensing; cartography; and military and intelligence. For more information, visit www.intergraph.com/imgs.

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