September 2, 1999

Dear Law of the Sea Investigator,

Please find below an announcement of the release of a commercial Law of
the Sea product.  As an International Boundary discussion group member,
this information should be of interest to your International Boundary
discussion group members.  (Note:  We received permission from the
listmaster to post this message as a list member.)

We can send you a PDF file of this product's colur brochure upon
request.

Here is some background information:

SEPTEMBER 1999 RELEASE OF CARIS LOTS
We are scheduled to release in the Fall of 1999 a software package
called CARIS LOTS (Law of the Sea) complete with several Data Wizards
for data preparation. CARIS LOTS is the first off-the-shelf software
package specially designed for coastal Nations who want to maximize and
successfully submit their territorial claims under UN's Law of the Sea.
It was designed in cooperation with several end-users and to be in
compliance with the procedures and data requirements outlined in the
United Nation Guidelines. CARIS LOTS will offer users the seamless
integration of public domain data sets with their own available data
source in order to facilitate planning and preparation of their United
Nations claim.   More information on our product, as well as a resource
site for Law of the Sea information, can be found at our LOTS web site
www.universal.ca/products/hydrography/lots.

INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE SEA CONFERENCE IN MONACO
Our company will coincide the release of LOTS with our presence at the
International Conference of ABLOS (Advisory Board on Geodetic,
Hydrographic, and Oceanographic Aspects of the Law of the Sea) in Monaco
from September 9-10th, 1999.  We anticipate this will be an important
event for all coastal countries to attend - these Guidelines have now
been finalized and this is the first opportunity for States to come
together and digest their legal implications to 200nm/EEZ and extended
claims.  Emphasis on the two-day open sessions will include how to
reduce errors in maritime boundaries, the tools needed for boundary
delimitations, and individual country’s experience in defining their
claim.   If interested in attending you will find Conference details at
www.gmat.unsw.edu.au/ablos .

PROFILE OF CARIS-UNIVERSAL SYSTEMS LTD
Let me introduce you to our company.  CARIS-Universal Systems Ltd is a
marine- and land- based GIS software company in Fredericton, New
Brunswick, Canada.  It has been in operation for 20 years.  CARIS-
Universal Systems Ltd. provides geographic information systems (GIS) and
spatial information management (SIM) solutions to organizations around
the world.   As of January 1999, CARIS-Universal Systems Ltd. boasts
over 4000 installations of its software in more than 50 countries. The
company maintains a strategic alliance network of over 40 alliances that
represent its products and services in over 70 countries.
CARIS-Universal Systems Ltd. is driven by its over 1200 customers, in
addition to its over 150 employees in three offices which are located in
two international locations, Canada and The Netherlands.

For more information please visit www.universal.ca

Yours sincerely,

Robert van de Poll
CARIS LOTS Product Manager
[log in to unmask]

Ron Bridges
Sales Consultant, Marine Division
[log in to unmask]


CARIS-Universal Systems Ltd. 264 Rookwood Avenue Fredericton, NB Canada
E3B 2M2
Phone: 1.506.458.8533 Fax: 1.506.459.3849 Email: [log in to unmask]

CARIS BV PO Box 47 5473 ZG Heeswijk The Netherlands
Phone: +31.(0)413.296.010 Fax: +31.(0)413.296.012 Email: [log in to unmask]


INTRODUCING CARIS LOTS
Law of the Sea Solution

The first off-the–shelf software package to prepare claim to the United
Nations of your country’s maritime and continental shelf limits and
boundaries.

CARIS LOTS (Law Of The Sea) is a software package specifically designed
for organizations that want to maximize and successfully submit their
offshore territorial claims under the UN’s Law of the Sea Guidelines.
CARIS LOTS provides an advanced, yet user-friendly visual environment
that determines new territorial boundaries accurately, reliably, and
cost-effectively to the best advantage of the State.

CARIS LOTS was developed in close cooperation with academic institutions
(UNB) and government agencies (CHS, GSC).  It uses the worldwide proven
technology of DELMAR 2 for boundary calculations and also offers
seamless integration of all available ASCII, raster, and vector data of
any State’s coastline, deep ocean, and continental shelf into one visual
environment.

CARIS LOTS is designed to simplify the complex task of preparing a
complete and accurate claim to the United Nations.  The software package
comes bundled with a unique set of customized utilities, including the
CARIS Digital Atlas, CARIS Sediment Thickness Data Extract Wizard,
CARIS Data Exchange Wizard,  and the CARIS ASCII Data Import Wizard.
These Data Wizards, together with step-by-step Law of the Sea User
Documentation, make a powerful combination.  With CARIS LOTS, a coastal
nation has everything it needs to plan for, and portray, a wide variety
of legal maritime boundaries.


 A Coastal Nation Can Quickly Generate and Document Any Limit and
Boundary:
- Territorial Sea Baseline
- Territorial Sea Limit of 12 nm (i.e. fishing boundaries and
international shipping boundaries)
- Agreed or disputed bilateral boundaries with adjacent or opposing
States
- Equidistant boundaries with adjacent or opposing States
- 200 nm limit (defining the State’s Exclusive Economic Zone or EEZ)
- 350 nm limit
- 2500 metre coutour line
- 2500 metre contour line + 100nm
- Foot of the Slope (FoS)
- Foot of the Slope + 60nm
- 1% Sediment Thickness Line (i.e. equal to 1% of distance seaward from
FoS)
- Maximum “Cutoff” Line
- Final Outer Limit


CARIS LOTS Benefits to the State:

1. MAXIMIZE YOUR TERRITORIAL CLAIM
- Each State has its own unique coastline and continental shelf, as well
as opposing and adjacent boundaries with other States.  The data and
tools are specifically designed to plan and prepare the State’s claim to
its greatest advantage.

- The extension of the claim could be different according to the
selected calculation approach and data. CARIS LOTS offers the necessary
tools and data to test a variety of “what if” scenarios of different
boundary calculations and to  immediately see the results.

- Invaluable planning and preparation tools save money by maximizing
productivity and allowing the State to justify how much, if any,
expensive deep water bathymetric or seismic surveys will be necessary.


2.   CONCENTRATE ON YOUR CLAIM USING WORRY-FREE TECHNOLOGY
- Simple point-and-click operations hide the complexity of the
mathematical algorithms

- Automatic geodetic calculations of limits and equidistant lines uses
the well-proven DELMAR 2 suite of programs, currently used in over 60
countries.

- Specific tools for meeting the requirements of Article 76 of the Law
of the Sea Convention (i.e. Foot of the Slope and 1% Sediment Thickness
of the Continental Shelf).


3.  INTEGRATE DISPARATE DATA SOURCES AND FORMATS
Data format translators allow the import of:
- ASCII tabular data (spot heights, soundings, text, symbols, lines)
- vector formats (e.g. ArcInfo’s EOO, Intergraph’s IGDS/DGN and SIF,
AutoCad’s DXF, and of course CARIS files)
- raster formats (e.g. TIFF, NOAA’s topography images)
- raster charts (HCRF).

4.  START RIGHT AWAY
- Comes bundled with data sufficient for any coastal State to start
planning and preparing a Law of the Sea claim. This includes:
    - NOAA’s Digital Chart of the World Shoreline
    - USGC’s GTOPO30 World Digital Elevation Model
    - NGDC’s ETOPO5 World Digital Elevation Model
    - NGDC’s World Sediment Thickness Charts

- The suite of LOTS utilities allows for easy and customizable access to
comprehensive, worldwide topographical, geological, and geophysical
public domain data sets.

- Can easily integrate any available Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) or
contours owned by the State.


CARIS LOTS recommended System Requirements
 - Pentium II 300 MHz
- 128 MB RAM
- 4 meg video card, 1024 X 767 Colour Video
- 50 MB Hard Drive Space – Program Files
- Hard Drive Space for Chart Data
- 17-inch monitor
- Windows NT 4.0 (only)




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