Leica Geosystems
Encyclopedia
Leica Geosystems based in eastern Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 produces products and systems for surveying
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

 and geographical measurement (geomatics
Geomatics
Geomatics is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information.-Overview and etymology:...

). Its products employ a variety of technologies including GPS
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...

 satellite navigation and laser rangefinders to enable users to model existing structures, terrains in computer based systems to high accuracies, often under 1 cm.

The brand Leica, better known for its high quality cameras, was formed on 2 April 1990 after the merger of several companies. The company was listed on the Swiss stock exchange until the 7 August 2006 which saw the cancellation of all publicly held registered shares in Leica Geosystems Holdings Ltd and delisting of all listed registered shares of a par value of CHF 50.

Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging is a Strategic Member in the Open Geospatial Consortium
Open Geospatial Consortium
The Open Geospatial Consortium , an international voluntary consensus standards organization, originated in 1994. In the OGC, more than 400 commercial, governmental, nonprofit and research organizations worldwide collaborate in a consensus process encouraging development and implementation of open...

 since 2008. Strategic Membership is the highest level of membership in the OGC. Strategic Members provide significant resources to support OGC objectives in the form of funding for program initiatives and staff resources inserted into the OGC process.

History

Heinrich Wild
Heinrich Wild
Heinrich Wild was a Swiss inventor, designer and founder of Wild Heerbrugg....

 (1877 - 1951) of Glarus, Switzerland
Glarus
Glarus is the capital of the Canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Glarus municipality since 1 January 2011 incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern....

, a leading designer of geodetic and astronomical instruments, began his career as an apprentice surveyor. In 1908, having invented a military rangefinder and convinced Zeiss to manufacture it, Wild moved to the city of Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...

 and became head of the new Zeiss branch responsible for surveying instruments, GEO.

Wild returned to Switzerland after the First World War.. In April 1921, with Colonel Jacob Schmidheiny of Balgach and geologist Dr. Robert Helbling of Flums and with the help of Swiss financiers, he founded the Heinrich Wild, Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Optik in Heerbrugg in the Rhine Valley
Rhine Valley
The Rhine Valley is a glacial alpine valley, formed by the Alpine Rhine , i.e. the section of the Rhine River between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau and its mouth at Lake Constance....

. In the early 1930s, having recognized that he was not cut out to be a factory manager, Wild moved to Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, severed his connections with the firm in Heerbrugg, and designed instruments for Kern & Co in Aarau. His old firm became Wild Heerbrugg in 1937.

It merged with the optical firm of Ernst Leitz of Wetzlar
Wetzlar
Wetzlar is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. Located at 8° 30′ E, 50° 34′ N, Wetzlar straddles the river Lahn and is on the German Timber-Framework Road which passes mile upon mile of half-timbered houses. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis on the north edge of...

 in 1987, acquired a majority interest in Kern in 1988, was renamed Wild Leitz AG in 1989, and became part of the Leica holding company in 1990. Starting in 1996, the company was divided gradually into smaller units. Thus in 1996, Leica Camera AG was founded, followed in October 1997 by Leica Geosystems AG, and on April 1, 1998 by Leica Microsystems
Leica Microsystems
Leica Microsystems GmbH is a leading global manufacturer of optical microscopes, equipment for the preparation of microscopic specimens and related products. There are ten plants in eight countries with distribution partners in over 100 countries...

 AG. The Swedish company Hexagon AB
Hexagon AB
Hexagon AB is a global technology group headquartered in Sweden. The operation is focused on precision measuring technologies and is divided into three business areas: Geospatial Measuring , Industrial Metrology and Technologies. The company markets its products and services under more than 35...

 purchased Leica Geosystems in late 2005.

Today these three companies are all independent public companies. Leica Geosystems produces - in continuation of Wild Heerbrugg - the geodetic instruments and is the global market leader in this section. The main customers of Leica Geosystems are surveyors, manufacturers and GIS
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...

 companies.

In April 2001, Leica Geosystems acquired ERDAS, Inc and LH Systems. ERDAS is a remote sensing software firm, while LH Systems was a photogrammetric software firm. These two companies were merged into software company, ERDAS, Inc., which remains under the ownership of Leica Geosystems. ERDAS purchased Acquis, ER Mapper and IONIC in 2007. This expanded further ERDAS' in the remote sensing market, enter the enterprise topological GIS market, and expand their footprint in the image web serving and image enterprise market.

See also

  • Choke ring antenna
    Choke ring antenna
    right|thumb|Patent Diagram of a Choke Ring AntennaA choke ring antenna is a particular form of omnidirectional antenna for use at high frequencies. It consists of a number of conductive concentric cylinders around a central antenna...

    , a key factor in the accuracy of their GPS products
  • Cyrax (HDS system)
    Cyrax (HDS system)
    Cyrax is a line of High Definition Survey systems. They are portable scanning systems mostly based on time-of-flight technology. Civil engineers Ben Kacyra and Jerry Dimsdale invented and patented the technology in 1998 ....

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