CartaLens from National Geographic and MetaCarta

National Geographic Maps and MetaCarta, Inc., provider of geographic search and referencing solutions, announced CartaLens, an innovative geospatial digital asset management solution for georeferencing, managing, retrieving and delivering digital assets. CartaLens is able to search and retrieve location-based information from both structured content and a broad base of digital content such as photos, video, audio and documents, enabling users to fuse digital assets with maps and metadata in a collaborative and interactive viewing environment. CartaLens is being showcased at the GEOINT 2007.

CartaLens enables users to drag and drop assets on to a map which automatically geo-tags the asset for a future geographic search. Its flexible and intuitive interface enables users to identify, locate and access location-aware information by using a map, media thumbnails, or by querying the asset's metadata. By accessing the CartaLens results dynamically in Google Earth, users can collaborate with their team of subject matter experts in real-time and mix this critical intelligence with other available sources in a 3-D environment.

CartaLens enables users to focus the "Lens" on maps, media, metadata and all-source textual information:

# Map-centric Access enables users with constant locational information. All digital assets within the selected search area will appear on the map as icons. Users can click on any point feature on the map to view that asset (photos, videos, imagery, documents, audio or any other digital asset pertaining to that location) along with its associated metadata. Updated maps, imagery, and geographic information are provided through ESRI, and are made available through ESRI's ArcGIS Server and ArcWeb Services.
# Media-centric Access allows users to identify, organize and locate content by clicking on the asset's thumbnail or detailed data. The map will illustrate where each asset is located providing a quick accurate visual reference that makes it easy to see how assets are related geographically.
# Data-centric Access enables users to query metadata to identify, view, categorize and map assets.

Source : http://www.marketwire.com