SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Jul 26, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Autodesk (Nasdaq: ADSK), the world's leading design software and digital content company, today announced three government agencies who have successfully implemented the complete Autodesk Emergency Response Solution. Working with these agencies, Autodesk provided technologies and services that help emergency response teams access, display, and analyze critical data so they can respond to emergencies quickly and confidently. The cities of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Grand Forks, North Dakota, and the State of Florida have implemented the complete Autodesk solution this year.

"These forward-thinking governments implemented the industry's first inside- and outside-building emergency response technologies," Chris Bradshaw, vice president of Autodesk's Infrastructure Solutions Division. "These solutions help them to combine different types of data, such as floor plans, city maps, demographic information, hazardous material locations, evacuation routes, and property information into one display, and to share it with anyone who needs it to make decisions during life-threatening situations. Autodesk has worked closely with these customers to customize the solution to meet their individual needs and budgets and to integrate the technology into existing legacy systems. They can use all their data, regardless of the format, giving their communities a smooth, quick, and affordable solution."

Autodesk's Emergency Response Solution allows public safety and first responders to integrate location data with design, physical asset and emergency response information from multiple departments and to quickly access it through web and mobile technologies. Autodesk designed the system to help emergency professionals save lives and property, as well as save money, shorten response time, and effectively prepare for, mitigate, and manage emergency and disaster response.

State and Local Agencies Implement Autodesk Emergency Response Solution

Local government agencies in Sheboygan and Grand Forks; and the State of Florida Department of Emergency Management, Emergency Operations Center, the information and logistics coordination center in Florida, have recently implemented the new solution in order to prepare their cities for major events or potential disasters. The city of Sheboygan worked closely with Autodesk to prepare for the PGA Championship at nearby Whistling Straits held in August of this year, an event the city's Chamber of Commerce expects to draw more than 300,000 people to the Sheboygan area. In the same regard, Grand Forks needed to prepare for this year's World Junior Hockey Championship, an event drawing ten countries to their area in December. The State of Florida Emergency Operations Center chose the Autodesk Emergency Response Solution to help them prepare the residents of Florida for potential natural disasters, such as hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, and man-made disasters such as possible train derailments, plane crashes, plane hijackings, shipboard fires, and hazardous material release.

The cities' fire departments have worked with a number of different systems for mapping and pre-planning and were looking to find a complete and easy-to-use system that combines location data with building information, such as floor plans and textual pre-plans. All three departments looked to the Autodesk Emergency Response Solution because of its fit with their existing GIS mapping applications, based on Autodesk MapGuide(R) software.

"Before this implementation, the City of Sheboygan's departments never dreamt it was possible to collaborate all of the various data sources they had available to them, much less have it available in their response vehicles," said Tom Horness, senior GIS/CADD technician for the City of Sheboygan. "This one system allows our police and fire departments immediate access to not only our planemetric data -- streets and building footprints, but also extremely valuable tools and tactical information, such as hydrant locations, digital aerial orthophotography, floor plans, construction materials, Tier 2 hazardous chemical reports, and much more. Having all of this information with the click of a button, while in route to a call, gives our responders a distinct advantage that will help save lives."

The Autodesk Emergency Response Solution

The Autodesk Emergency Response Solution consists of interoperable Autodesk technologies and services, including Autodesk MapGuide web mapping software to manage and distribute information about an incident to anyone who needs it; Autodesk(R) Crisis Command and Autodesk(R) Mobile Command software to provide both tactical and strategic capabilities including functionality for fire attack pre-planning, fire flow/bomb blast analysis, sniper/counter sniper capabilities, dynamic 3D visualization, and command and control. In connection with the implementations, Autodesk also uses its Autodesk(R) Pre-Plan Command software to create and edit maps and drawings, and help non-technical users quickly transform CAD drawings and floor plans into ready-to-use tactical and fire attack pre-plans that can track casualties with up-to-date information during an incident.

Availability

The Autodesk Emergency Response Solution, including the products and services listed above, are available in the United States (Autodesk MapGuide available worldwide). For more details, please go to www.autodesk.com/emergency-response.

Autodesk Consulting Adds Value to Software Investment

The solution is supported by Autodesk Consulting, which offers services that can help streamline business processes and help customers get the best possible return on their investment in Autodesk technology. For more information about Autodesk Consulting, including integrated consulting and training, see www.autodesk.com/consulting.

About Autodesk

Autodesk is the world's leading design software and digital content company, offering customers progressive business solutions through powerful technology products and services. Autodesk helps customers in the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital media, and wireless data services fields increase the value of their digital design data and improve efficiencies across their entire project lifecycle management processes. For more information about the company, see www.autodesk.com.

NOTE: Autodesk and Autodesk MapGuide are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Contact: Dawn Van Osdell of Autodesk, +1-704-347-2538, or dawn.van.osdell@autodesk.com.

SOURCE Autodesk

http://www.autodesk.com