From identifying Columbia crash to West Nile, Trimble GPS at work

WESTMINSTER — When the space shuttle Columbia unexpectedly exploded over Texas at the beginning of February, Trimble used Global Positioning System technology to help NASA unravel the mystery behind what went wrong.

The GPS technology, which is based on a constellation of 24 satellites orbiting the Earth at a very high altitude, helped NASA identify when and where pieces of the Columbia crash fell as well as help tell investigators what the actual piece was.

NASA was able to identify the latitude and longitude of where the parts landed, then put that information into its computers, which provided a simulation of how the explosion might have occurred.

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Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB) was quiet about its involvement in the Columbia investigation because it didn’t want to garner publicity from a national tragedy, but “We thought it was great to help NASA solve the problem,´ said Jim Veneziano, director of marketing for the agriculture division at Trimble’s Westminster site.

The Westminster site, in Church Ranch Business Park, has agriculture, survey and construction and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) divisions.

The agriculture and GIS equipment includes the EZ Guide System, which provides visual instruction to a farmer on where to drive his or her tractor while planting, spraying or harvesting; the Autopilot System, which automatically steers a tractor; and the Geo Explorer CE Series, a series of handheld devices used for mapping.

The EZ Guide System, which costs $4,000, shows the farmer where to steer the tractor, but the farmer steers it him or herself. The Autopilot System, which carries a heftier $40,000 price tag, is “like cruise control in your car,” Veneziano said. The farmer doesn’t have to steer but is still in the driver’s seat. Steering large tractors correctly can be very stressful to a farmer, Veneziano said.

Trimble’s equipment isn’t available for sale at its facilities; instead it must be ordered through independent dealers. The company’s Westminster site provides training for dealers such as Compasscom, and the dealers then show Trimble’s customers how to use its products.

Corporate marketing also takes place at the Westminster site, which employs nearly 100 people, the majority of whom have backgrounds in marketing, engineering, surveying, construction and agriculture, Veneziano said. Trimble has more than 2,000 employees companywide.

Both Boulder and Fort Collins use Trimble’s technology to manage such assets as water meters, street signs, roads, sewers and telephone polls, Veneziano said.

Boulder County Open Space also uses Trimble’s GPS equipment to map trails and identify trail erosion, rock erosion and watershed pollution.

National Parks Service maps all exotic plants throughout the country using Trimble equipment, said Judy Daniels, of the biological resources management division of National Parks Service in Fort Collins. National Park Service’s Washington support office in Fort Collins uses Trimble’s GeoExplorer 3, GeoXT, GeoXM, ProXR and ProXRS equipment.

The equipment has provided increased mapping capabilities in the field, Daniels said. “It’s easy to use,” she said. “They’re very user-friendly. They have a lot of base stations that allow us to differentially correct our GPS points.

“It allows us to collect data quickly and in a timely manner. Without it, we couldn’t do that. Our accuracy has increased, and we can spatially represent the exotic plants to other users.”

Trimble’s technology also has helped prevent the spread of West Nile Virus because it helps map areas of stagnant water, called catch basins, to determine the most likely spots for the outbreak.

Additionally, Trimble’s technology was used to help recover the nine coal miners who were trapped in a Somerset, Pa. mine in late July 2002, Veneziano said. All nine miners survived being trapped in a 240-foot-deep shaft for more than three days.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Trimble is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. In June, the company’s year-to-date sales were up 17 percent from 2002, Veneziano said.

Trimble, which does work in all 50 states and worldwide, has employees and facilities in more than 20 countries, including China, Sweden, Germany, England and Japan.