Caliper Corporation

Last updated
Caliper Corporation
Company typePrivate
Industry Mapping Software,
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Founded Newton, Massachusetts (1983)
Headquarters Newton, Massachusetts, U.S. 42°19′49.67″N71°12′42.23″W / 42.3304639°N 71.2117306°W / 42.3304639; -71.2117306
Key people
Howard Slavin, Founder/President
Products Maptitude, TransCAD, TransModeler
Website www.caliper.com

Caliper Corporation was founded in 1983 as a developer of mapping software and is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.

Contents

Caliper develops geographic information systems (GIS) and transportation software. Caliper is also a consulting and R&D provider offering professional services in quantitative management consulting, transportation, and decision support systems development.

Caliper is the developer of the TransCAD transportation planning software, TransModeler traffic simulation software, and Maptitude [1] GIS packages.

TransCAD

TransCAD is software for transportation planning. In addition to the standard point, line, area, and image layers in a GIS map, TransCAD supports route system layers and has tools for creating, manipulating and displaying routes. TransCAD uses a network data structure to support routing and network optimization models. TransCAD includes trip generation, distribution, mode choice, and traffic assignment models that support transportation planning and travel demand forecasting. TransCAD has a set of dynamic segmentation and linear referencing tools for managing highway, rail, pipeline, and other networks. [2]

Product history

TransCAD was first released as a MS-DOS-based transportation GIS package in 1985. TransCAD 3.0, the first Microsoft Windows version, was released on May 28, 1996. TransCAD 4.8 was replaced by TransCAD 5.0 on January 2, 2008, and later TransCAD 6.0 and TransCAD 7.0. The most current version is TransCAD 8.0.[ citation needed ]

Web-based version

TransCAD for the Web is a web-based version of TransCAD that uses application source code that can be edited using Javascript, HTML, and ASP.NET. Application templates (Mapplications) are used to create a web application or service. The default templates include Ajax applications and mashups that use Google Maps via the Google Map API. TransCAD for the Web was the first web-based GIS for Transportation (GIS-T), [3] [4] and remains the only transportation GIS with web development capabilities. [5]

Maptitude for Redistricting

Maptitude for Redistricting is a related, but separate product, to Maptitude. By 2001, Caliper's new redistricting mapping technology was being used by over fifty percent of the United States's legislatures to draft new electoral district boundaries following the 1999 census. [6] In 2011, California established a citizens redistricting commission that used Maptitude to successfully redraw the maps. [7]

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Maptitude is a mapping software program, a mapping tool, and a Geographic Information System (GIS) created by Caliper Corporation that allows users to view, edit and integrate maps. The software is designed to allow the geographical visualization and analysis of either included data or custom external data. The primary user type is a business development professionals. The primary use type is for sales territory management.

References

  1. Maptitude offers unbeatable mapping value for Windows (InfoWorld)
  2. Software helps transportation planners make decisions
  3. Handbook of Transport Geography and Spatial Systems
  4. TECHNOLOGICAL SUPPORT AND TOOLS
  5. TransCAD for the Web Overview
  6. Pinkston, Will (April 24, 2001). "Software Makes Redistricting Easier, Accessible". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  7. Sonenshein, Raphael (June 12, 2013). "When the People Draw the Lines" (PDF). League of Women Voters of California. Retrieved June 2, 2023.