GPU or not to GPU, that is the question

Not too long ago nVidia purchased Ageia and their PhysX technology (I wrote about this before). The whole physics will be (already is?) implemented as software solution in CUDA technology. Now GPU is working faster and doing more work than CPU! But wait! There's more! We can have not 2, not 3 but 4 graphics card in SLI mode!! Of course it will cost you dearly but you will get quite a significant performance boost.

On the other hand, Intel is saying who need's graphic card when you have 8 cores. To back up their statement they have demonstrated fire spreading generated on the Nahalem processors. Check out the video and article here. So, all you need is 8 or more cores and you're all set.

So, what it is going to be? I think it will be a status quo for a while. Graphics card manufactures will keep pumping out newer and better cards, CPUs will be multicore with 16 or 32 cores. The bottleneck is most likely to be the software - namely operating system and the applications. It is not easy to write software that does decent multi threading support for 4 cores not to mention 16 or more cores.

Anyway end users (and gamers) can expect better and more realistic games and even more eye candy.

Earth Day and ArcGIS Explorer

Yesterday was Earth Day and on the Earth Day Network there is a lot of content available (even if I had trouble finding it) and it is easy to use it with ArcGIS Explorer (AGX).

On ArcGIS Explorer's Blog you'll find how to view NASA's data from Earth Observatory.

Here is an example of swipe tool in action

 

AGX has a very nice option to add data from a range of sources - ArcGIS Server, ArcIMS, WMS and data stored locally. Here is an dialog for opening files and you can see main groups rather than all supported services and file types.

 

Speaking of AGX, ESRI has hinted how one of upcoming versions (build 600) will look. The screenshot below shows 'ribbon' interface under Vista.

Functionality wise there isn't much out there. We know it will include both 2D and 3D maps. I guess we can expect AGX relatively soon. For updates head over to the ArcGIS Explorer blog.

Intel cut prices for Quad Core CPUs

A few days ago Intel decided it is time to play hard against AMD. So, Intel has dropped prices for a whole range of the CPUs. Most significant change is for Core 2 Quad Q6700. Price is now 50% cheaper - US$266. Another CPU with 50% price cut is Quad Core Xeon X3230 - US$255.

Core 2 Quad Q6700

This is not the only CPU that has price slashed. Other CPUs with notable price drops are Core 2 Duo E6850 (31% price drop), Dual Core Xeon 3085 - 29%.

Xeon 3085

If you are interested in official list have a look on Intel's corporate media list. I would find it more interesting if they list only CPU that have price changed.

Now it should be just a matter of time to see these in cheap(er) PC near you.

KML - an open standard

KML (Keyhole Markup Language) was originally developed Keyhole Inc. It was used by their product called Earth Viewer. In 2004 Keyhole Inc. was bought by Google and rest of the story is well known history.

Open Geospatial consortium has announced today that KML is adopted as open standard. This will probably lead to even wider adoption of this format for all sorts of spatial/mapping applications.

Full article is available on the OGC's news page.

Leica Geosystems is now called ERDAS

ERDAS was well known and respected name in world or raster GIS and satellite imagery. The name has disappeared from the world scene after ERDAS was purchased by Leica and it gets a new name  - Legica Geosystems.

How, Leica Geosystems is called ERDAS again.

Full explanation and some history is available on ERDAS new web site.

 

 

On the products page there is a display of new process ideology that is divided in 4 parts:

• Author
• Manage
• Connect
• Deliver

 

This is reminding me (in a way) of ESRI's ArcGIS concept: Author, Serve and Consume.

It is nice to have ERDAS name back...