FORT COLLINS – Colorado State University and area natural-resource companies have lured an Austin, Texas-based company to open an office here.

Earth Information Systems Corp., called Eisys for short, has leased almost 2,000 square feet in the One West Art Center in downtown Fort Collins. Four people are in the office now, and that could double by next spring.

Eisys integrates remote sensing data from satellites with geographic information systems to produce mapping and other imagery for companies involved in oil and gas exploration, mineral exploration, pipeline routing and telecommunications.
“CSU has a very good remote-sensing and GIS program,´ said Doran Geise, a vice president of the company and head of the Fort Collins office. “I’ve been interviewing students for two weeks, and I’m very, very impressed with the skills they have.”
Additionally, many mineral clients are in the Denver area and in the West.
“We have as clients the major oil and gas, minerals and pipeline companies,” Geise said, “but we feel we can attract even more locally.”
The imaging produced by Eisys comes from several different satellites, including Landsat, Spot (a French satellite) and radar satellites.
“We use all different types of imagery,” Geise said.
The company employs computer scientists, geologists, land-use planners and geographers.
Eisys also can deliver data or set up a GIS system for a customer.
The company, founded in 1990 by Alexandra Schultejann and James Scott, also has an office in Houston.
“We’ve been very successful in the past three years,” Geise said, “and made contact with good, big clients doing business worldwide.”
Colorado has become a hotbed for GIS-related businesses, but Geise doesn’t feel there is a tremendous competition for what his company does.
“It is growing, though, and some people in town do similar stuff,” he said. “But I don’t feel head-to-head competition yet. É Over time, that may change.”
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