Thirty Oracle partners who use the optional spatial features in Oracle Database met in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, in November to share ideas and network.

In this third annual Oracle Spatial Partner Event, the directors of Oracle partners had an opportunity to learn more about Oracle technology and partner services and to meet each other. Many Oracle Spatial partners already work together, and the annual dinner is an opportunity to informally network.

Partners developing Oracle Spatial applications include map providers, application developers and system integrators. Companies represented at the event included Navteq, Leica Geosystems, Intergraph, Acquis, Bentley Corporation, Mapinfo, LogicaCMG and eSpatial. Oracle has spatial special interest groups in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, South Africa and Sweden.

Every Oracle database includes built-in location data storage, query, and analysis capabilities, through Oracle Locator, a feature of Oracle Database 10g (Standard Edition, Standard Edition One, and Enterprise Edition). Oracle Locator provides the core location functionality needed to support a variety of location-based services (LBS) and partner geospatial solutions. Oracle Spatial is an option for Oracle Enterprise Edition that provides advanced spatial features to support high-end geospatial and LBS solutions requiring additional server-side processing and analysis. By using Oracle's spatial type, users benefit from Oracle's leading security, performance, scalability, and manageability for their spatial data assets. Oracle is an industry leader in this area, holding an 80-90 percent share of the spatial database management market (IDC 2005). Oracle's open spatial type is supported by all leading geospatial vendors.

The event included presentations by Bertram Mandel, senior director alliances and channels Oracle EMEA, and Loic Le Guisquet, VP Consulting Oracle EMEA.

Mike O'Neil, managing director of Cadcorp, attended the event for the first time this year. He says: "It was an enjoyable day and we benefited a lot. I went with an open mind and found there were a few people I knew there. It was good to meet people who were already partners of Cadcorp, or those who potentially could be. The main theme of the day was to encourage us as partners to make more use of Oracle themselves. Oracle told partners that if they tell them what markets they're in and who their partners are, Oracle will put in resources to help bring those partners, Oracle and the end customers closer together."

He adds: "The main presentation was by Xavier Lopez, director of spatial and location technology at Oracle. The best thing to come out of the event for me was this presentation. I will be taking the information and presenting it to our managers in the company so they can benefit too."

Cadcorp was founded in 1991 and produced the first computer aided design (CAD) system running on Microsoft Windows. In 1994, the company switched its focus to GIS software. Today, one of the company's unique propositions is that its GIS software suite, Cadcorp SIS® can access Oracle without middleware and read many other GIS and CAD formats without translation. O'Neil says: "The ability of Cadcorp SIS to integrate users' Oracle, GIS and CAD data, improves information sharing and productivity across the enterprise."

The company has sales worldwide, with 35-40 percent of its revenue coming from Japan and a similar proportion coming from the company's UK home base. The rest comes from Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. End customers for applications using Cadcorp SIS software include local authorities, emergency services, military, police, insurance companies, and petroleum businesses.

Cadcorp SIS links directly to Oracle Database 9i and 10g, so that data stored in it can be processed geographically without needing any middleware between Cadcorp's software and the database.

Richard Rollins, marketing manager at Cadcorp, says: "The majority of our local government customers in the UK are using Oracle as the basis of their spatial data warehouse, and particularly for Ordnance Survey® MasterMapTM management. Oracle's presence is growing in this market, which is a reflection of its efforts to further enhance the spatial components of the Oracle database."

Cadcorp recently joined the Oracle PartnerNetwork. Rollins says: "Outside Cadcorp, the relationship with Oracle is between Oracle and our end user and in some cases our distributors. We're just beginning to form relationships with Oracle's technical and sales people. The Oracle PartnerNetwork will provide support across all disciplines - not just technical, but marketing too. We're pretty excited about the prospect to use OPN as a way into Oracle around the world."

O'Neil says: "The Oracle Partner Network (OPN) provides a 'one stop shop' for Cadcorp to engage with Oracle across global sales, marketing, training and development functions. OPN membership enables Cadcorp to introduce its unique GIS product range to the Oracle economy, while keeping up-to-date with the latest Oracle technology. Cadcorp has benefited from access to software as well as many other web-based resources designed to enhance its value proposition, broaden opportunity and extend reach in the marketplace."

He adds: "Specifically, OPN has helped Cadcorp to market products via an online catalogue, find technical assistance, meet potential new customers and partners and with additional Oracle product training. Indeed with offices in the UK, US and Australia, Cadcorp will upgrade its OPN membership status to worldwide. This means Cadcorp will be able to reach a potential global Oracle SME customer base."

Where next?

Cadcorp website
Oracle Spatial & Oracle Locator: Location Features for Oracle Database 10g