Making the map-Feature Analyst lifts Visual Learning Systems to new heights

The United States Department of Defense can interpret its aerial and satellite maps 165 times faster now that it has adopted software developed by a small software company in Missoula last spring.

By: Tina Goodrich Western Montana InBusiness- Missoulian

The company, Visual Learning Systems Inc., http://vls-inc.com/ has sold its software, Feature Analyst, and continues to do research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and Homeland Security, said David Opitz, chief executive officer for the company and an associate professor of computer science at the University of Montana.

Some of the software Visual Learning is working on deals specifically with Geographical Information System technology that will aid military and national intelligence efforts in the conflict in the Mideast and the war on terrorism, Opitz said.

The future looks promising for Visual Learning Systems, said Opitz, who led a team in developing Feature Analyst and continues to do research funded in part by grants from the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, an arm of the Defense Department, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Environmental organizations such as the Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, the National Park Service in Canada and Ducks Unlimited have incorporated Visual Learning Systems software into their GIS technology. State and local governments, as well as higher-education institutions, have done the same, Opitz said.

The software, Feature Analyst, extracts specific information from satellite images, and by using artificial intelligence, produces maps that can visually clarify such topographic characteristics as buildings, roads and vegetation among many other features that are otherwise difficult to translate.

A lot of companies have tried to do what Visual Learning Systems is doing, Opitz said, but “we attacked it from a different angle” using machine learning or artificial intelligence. Feature Analyst makes the process of reading an image more accurate and simpler, he said – benefits that save hundreds of hours in labor costs.

The company has 12 employees, but Opitz foresees that in a year there will be as many as 25. In 10 years, Opitz predicts that the company will have more than 100 employees. It’s difficult to pinpoint a timeline because “the government works slower than we do,” he said.

Opitz stressed that unlike many software companies, Visual Learning Systems is committed to staying in Missoula and hiring Montana talent. All of the Visual Learning employees are Montana graduates, he said, adding that he hopes to be able to provide good-paying jobs through the company.

The company, which is co-owned by Stuart Blundell, a GIS specialist, continues to work with national intelligence agencies, NASA and the Department of Defense in developing other software that will enhance GIS technology.

Opitz said that Visual Learning also is exploring and developing technology for the medical industry – software that would enhance medical imagery. Other commercial, international and domestic vendors have expressed interest in the software, he said.

VLS is also a partner with the Environmental Science Research Institute, best known as ESRI, the biggest company in the GIS industry. During the last part of February, ESRI agreed to begin marketing and reselling Feature Analyst.

“They don’t do that for very many people,” he said.

Tina Goodrich is a Missoula free-lance writer. You can reach her at [email protected].

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