Geofoto was a Croatian company with 260 employees headquartered in Zagreb, Croatia with subsidiaries in Norway, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Bolivia, Argentina, United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic and United Kingdom. Its main fields are Geomatics activities such as photogrammetry and geographic information systems (GIS). In Croatia it has won a number of business awards.
 | |
| Company type | LLC |
|---|---|
| Industry | Geomatics GIS Aerial photography Photogrammetry Cartography |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Defunct | 2017 |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Headquarters | |
| Revenue |  €15.39 million (2009) |
Number of employees | 260 (September 2010) |
| Website | www |
History
editThe company was founded in 1993 in Croatia and became the country's first aerial survey service and the lead producer of new topographic maps after the Croatian War of Independence. Exporting activities started in early 2000s (decade) and peaked in 2008 when the company acquired Geodetski zavod Slovenije d.d., the largest Slovenian surveying company for 4.5 million euros,[1] ProCaptura, the Norwegian producer of advanced large format scanners, and Zenit, the largest Macedonian geodetic company.[2]
In February 2010 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced the acquisition of a 9.6% share of Geofoto for 4 million euros,[3][4] estimating the value of the company to €42 million, and projecting its increase to €230 million in seven years.[5] In March 2013, the EBRD has filed a petition for bankruptcy against the company.[6]
After the fall of Croatia's Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, one of the closest friends of company owner Zvonko Biljecki, without his support the company slowly fell apart.[7] In December 2017, company declared bankruptcy.[8]
Fleet and technology
editFor aerial survey purposes, the company owns four aircraft equipped with Vexcel UltraCamX digital cameras and a LiDAR mapping system IGI LiteMapper 6800-400:
Awards
editGeofoto is recipient of several awards in business, technology and humanitarian work. The notable awards include:
- International Cartographic Association: First world prize for the best photomap of urban area, ICA Conference Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1999[citation needed]
- International Cartographic Association: First world prize for the best orientation map (map of the Upper Town of Zagreb), ICA Conference Beijing, China, 2001
- Croatian Chamber of Economy awarded Geofoto with the certificate "Zlatna Kuna", the award for the most successful middle-sized Croatian company
References
edit- ^ "Geofoto preuzeo Geodetski zavod Slovenije za 4,5 mil. eura". Poslovni dnevnik (in Croatian). 2008-10-17. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
- ^ "Geofoto: Tvrtka koja i u krizi bilježi vrtoglavi rast od 30 posto". Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
- ^ "Geofoto [EBRD - News and events]". Archived from the original on 2010-09-05. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- ^ "EBRD ulaže četiri milijuna eura u Geofoto".
- ^ Marko Ćustić (11 February 2010). "EBRD za 4 milijuna eura postao suvlasnik Geofota" [EBRD buys a stake in Geofoto for 4 million Euros]. Nacional (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
- ^ "Croatia: EBRD moves to force Croatia's Geofoto into bankruptcy - media". Polish News Bulletin. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ "Priča o (Ne)uspjehu: Geofoto od 180 dana čak 110 u blokadi".
- ^ "Croatian: Otvara se stečaj tvrtke Geofoto s dugom od 11,5 milijuna kuna". 1 December 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.