Fractal Technologies Awarded AusIndustry R&D Start Grant

27 November 2003

Fractal Technologies was awarded a $0.9M AusIndustry research & development Start Grant to extend their FracSIS software to become the world's first comprehensive 3D GIS (Geographic Information System) software package. This new development will provide a quantum shift in the way three-dimensional data is managed, analysed and interpreted.

The new 3D GIS system will take the capabilities of existing GIS software and add elements of 3D visualisation, computer aided design (CAD), modelling and simulation software, and spatial databases to enable users to model, analyse and interact with their data in an uncompromised and realistic 3D environment.

In the same way that current 2D GIS systems have revolutionised fields such as cartography, geology and land management, Fractal Technologies' 3D GIS system will provide new methods of analysing and managing complex spatial information. This is of fundamental importance to disciplines contending with problems involving large-scale 3D data analysis, such as exploration and mining.

Jenny Archibald, Managing Director of Fractal Technologies, explains: "A 3D GIS system will enable users to perform spatial queries and analyses, such as finding all subsurface drillhole intercepts close to geophysical or geochemical anomalies. Primarily, it is this ability to represent and query volumetric data that sets a 3D GIS system apart from current GIS software, which is very much built on a 'flat earth' surface-based mapping paradigm."

Fractal Technologies expects to introduce the new features into the FracSIS Product Suite as they are developed.