Blue Marble Geographics and Avenza Systems have officially teamed up under one unified brand named Blue Marble Geographics. The combined organization will integrate its product offerings into single workflow that includes field and office tasks, combining lidar processing, high precision mapping, and offline mobile tools. As the products offerings of both companies are complimentary, creating a single connected system with different product offerings and users is the end goal.
Blue Marble was founded in 1993 supports professionals across industries including AEC, energy and natural resources, and defense and public sector. Its solutions are designed to reduce complexity, improve accuracy, and enable reliable, high-precision analysis that drives real-world execution. The company’s home office is located in Hallowell, Maine.
Global Mapperm Geographic Calculator and Avenza Maps
Blue Marble Geographics is known for its flagship products Global Mapper and Geographic Calculator. Global Mapper is a versatile and user-friendly GIS software application which supports over 250 spatial data formats for visualization, editing, and analysis of 2D raster/vector data and 3D terrain/lidar data.
Its Geographic Calculator is a desktop and cloud-based software for geodetic coordinate conversion, datum transformation, and spatial data translation. The software is widely used for handling complex coordinate systems, seismic data, vector files, and raster reformatting, particularly in GIS, surveying, and energy sectors.
Avenza is known for Avenza Maps, a mobile GPS application for iOS and Android that allows users to download and use maps offline without cellular service. It uses geospatial PDF, GeoPDF, or GeoTIFF maps, providing precise location tracking for outdoor recreation and professional field use. Key features include recording tracks, plotting photos, and importing custom maps.
In a press statement announcing the merger, Blue Marble Geographics also welcomed Patrick Stevenson as Chief Product Officer. He will focus on accelerating innovation and advancing how spatial analysis, coordinate intelligence, and mobile field capabilities operate as a connected system.
Global Mapper 27 release
The first product integration example was released right after the news of the merger. The latest version of Global Mapper (with release number 27) integrates its
geodetic library GeoCalc directly into the platform, alongside enhancements to data validation, automation, and interoperability, enabling high-precision geospatial work to be completed in a single environment.
GeoCalc is short for GeoCalc Software Development Kit (SDK), a fully object-oriented class library designed for GIS professionals and software developers building their own mapping application or software development project.
Global Mapper 27 release features
Global Mapper 27 introduces a range of enhancements including GeoCalc integration, advanced lidar validation and QA, support for evolving data standards, guided breakline extraction, and expanded format support:
Advanced LiDAR validation and QA enhancements include new horizontal quality assurance capabilities improve flight path alignment, refine ground control point accuracy, and support rigorous quality control standards
Support for evolving data standards includes built-in ASPRS density measurement methods to help ensure compliance with evolving industry standards and streamline validation across every delivery.
Guided breakline extraction means intelligent automation to reduce manual digitizing, improving consistency and accelerating terrain model production.
Expanded format support enhancements include E57 export, LAS 1.5 support with GPS time offsets, TFADS-O export, and GGF export, improving interoperability and reducing data conversion steps.
