Thetus Corporation Integrates Microsoft Virtual Earth for Military and Intel Info

Thetus Corporation, a knowledge management organization, will demo the integration of Thetus Publisher with the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform at the upcoming GEOINT Symposium. The combination will leverage Thetus' semantic approach to knowledge management with Microsoft's geospatial technology.  "Situational awareness is critical for organizations that use evolving data to make faster and more informed decisions," said Stephen Lawler, Microsoft's Virtual Earth general manager of development.  "Thetus' semantic technology, paired with Virtual Earth, gives customers a powerful tool to visualize and bring clarity to geospatial components, which are found in most public sector data -- ultimately making that information more actionable."

Microsoft will be displaying its Virtual Earth technology on its own as well, while Thetus will also present with Carahsoft and VC firm IN-Q-TEL.

IN-Q-TEL recently made a strategic investment in Forterra Systems, whose OLIVE platform has been making headway in military training and now the U.S. intelligence community for information sharing and collaboration. That investment, though, went in part to helping OLIVE adapt to existing virtual world's technology like Google's SketchUp. Integration with Microsoft Virtual Earth's recently launched 3DVIA can't be too far off.

The goal of the Thetus integration is to "empowers users to search, visualize, verify and relate critical geospatial intelligence data" through the semantics and allow complex information to be assembled through a wider range of sources than traditional, purely text-based methods.

"Virtual Earth provides us with a platform for delivering knowledge in a landscape accessible to all," said Danielle Forsyth, founder and CEO of Thetus. "Integrated with the Thetus Publisher, the combined capability allows organizations to use and share valuable knowledge assets quickly and easily -- accelerating the understanding of both analysts and recipients of intelligence products."