CityEngine maker Procedural Inc. has been acquired by ESRI, the maker of ArcGIS. The buy-up of a content creation software company by a geographic information system (GIS) software leader is an interesting move for ESRI.
CityEngine
We last wrote about CityEngine back in April of this year when Procedural announced a joint-partnership with GTA Geoinformatik GmbH. The acquisition by ESRI further brings this digital content creation tool–often used in Hollywood entertainment–further in alignment with the world of GIS.
01 - CityEngine is now owned by ESRI, a global leader in GIS software systems.
CityEngine is used to rapidly create cities using complex procedural algorithms. In addition to use in movies and films the product is valuable to architects and urban designers and planners.
Many of ESRI’s GIS products address problems that can only be solved in 3D. Procedural’s technologies can greatly assist ESRI’s solutions.
Procedural’s Zurich-based offices will be maintained by ESRI–a California-based company–and turned into a world class R&D center in the field of urban design and 3D content creation. ESRI has also said the product CityEngine will continue to remain a stand-alone product even though many of its technologies will be brought into ESRI GIS software solutions.
The next version of CityEngine is expected soon and was presented live at the ESRI 2011 International User Conference.
To learn more about CityEngine and Procedural visit them online here.