The state of Rhineland-Palatinate, represented by the State Office for Environment, Water Management and Trade Control, contracted the companies terrestris and geomer mid April 2012 to implement the Spatial Data Architecture Water (SDA Water). You will find the related press release below: The state of Rhineland-Palatinate orders a Spatial Data Infrastructure focussed on water related issues based on Free Software Current software to be replaced by a modern system Bonn/Heidelberg, May 7^th, 2012 The state of Rhineland-Palatinate, represented by the State Office for Environment, Water Management and Trade Control, has numerous water related tasks to fulfill: Flood prevention requires extensive coordination efforts, ground- and surface water needs to be managed in a meaningful way while areas for the generation of potable water have to be delineated. These are but a few of the numerous overall tasks. Due to the spatial character of the problems a web based, geographical information system (WebGIS) is being used. System evolved over many years The current system that grew over many years is now being modernised and transferred into an up-to-date spatial data infrastructure. The tried and trusted expert procedures are to be retained while the shortcomings of the current system are to be replaced by modern approaches. The state consciously opted to use Free Software components for this. Renewal based on Free Software In autumn of 2011 a europe-wide tender was put out seeking offers for the complete redevelopment of the WebGIS. In mid April the companies terrestris GmbH & Co. KG and geomer GmbH were awarded the contract, after being successful with an offer based on Spring, Hibernate, OpenLayers, GeoExt and other components. The geo database to be used will be Oracle Spatial. The services supplied by SDA Water can also be used in Desktop-Clients like ArcGIS from ESRI. Sustainable investment Due to the license the use of Free Software has numerous advantages:

• The software can be modified by the customer and can be passed on to others as he sees fit.
• Due to the accessible source code all functionality can be assessed.
• The openness of the source code guarantees independency from the manufacturer.

—- About terrestris terrestris is a geoinformatics company headquatered in Bonn and since 2002 active in the conceptualisation, implementation and support of geodata infrastructures and geo portals based on Free Software like PostGIS, OpenLayers and GeoServer. Integrated into the international communities the software products in question not only get used by terrestris but are also actively being developed. Amongst the customers of terrestris are numerous federal states, universities and research institutions as well as municipalities and private enterprises. The company terrestris has successfully accomplished projects in the Near East (Qatar), Africa (Benin) and Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Denmark) and is currently involved in a hydrological research project in Asia (Mongolia). About geomer Geomer GmbH is one of the leading geoinformatics companies in Germany and was founded in Heidelberg in 1999. The focus of activities lies on products, solutions and services centered around Geographical Information Systems. An emphasis is on geoinformatics services, geodata and natural hazard/risk management. As a Full-Service-Provider geomer has been an ESRI partner for many years and is the third largest distributor of NAVTEQ-data in Europe. Geomer commands international reputation in the fields of hazard modelling and flood risk management. Public administrations, research institutions, states and municipalities rely on the cooperation with geomer, like the Federal Institute for Hydrology, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Resources, the state of Baden-Württemberg and many more. Besides the thematic focus on flood protection we’re involved in the insurance industry, publishing industry, retail industry, transport and logistics. Currently we’re expanding into renewable energy and energy transition. —- Press contact Dipl.-Geogr. Hinrich Paulsen terrestris GmbH & Co. KG Pützchens Chaussee 56 53227 Bonn, Germany + 49 228 – 962 899 51 info@terrestris.de www.terrestris.de