New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA, December 20, 2012 – CartoDB, a cloud-powered open source spatial database, mapping, analysis, and visualization engine and Azavea, a leading geospatial analysis (GIS) software development company, announce a new partnership agreement.

This partnership will bring together both companies’ tremendous array of data visualization and spatial analysis experience. Azavea’s expertise in building complex geospatial web and mobile applications meshes well with CartoDB’s versatility. Built using the open source PostGIS database and running on a large-scale cloud infrastructure, CartoDB enables users to easily create location aware applications and dynamic map visualizations, while Azavea’s experience with web-based high performance geoprocessing operations makes the firm a strategic partner for the creation of extremely fast geospatial applications. In particular, CartoDB-based applications could seamlessly leverage Azavea’s GeoTrellis open source geographic data processing engine to offer scalable analysis and spatial modeling applications, especially with very large data sets.

In a recent blog post, John Branigan of Azavea wrote, "Wordpress revolutionized the process of publishing content on the web, significantly lowering barriers to entry. CartoDB is like a user-friendly CMS for geographic data. It takes the pain out of setting up servers with PostGIS and Geoserver, and serving data to the browser ..."

Both, Robert Cheetham, CEO and President of Azavea, and Javier de la Torre, CEO of CartoDB are excited about this partnership and the possibilities it creates to implement innovative, user-friendly approaches to geographic analysis and web applications that in turn, have the potential to benefit communities around us.

”This new partnership is very exciting. CartoDB and Azavea have complementary skill sets. CartoDB combines a geodatabase in the cloud with high quality visual design. Azavea uses its open source GeoTrellis framework to create advanced apps that can support spatial analysis on the web. We believe the two platforms will catalyze new types of applications,” said Robert Cheetham, President and CEO of Azavea.

Javier de la Torre, CEO of Vizzuality, added “We couldn’t be more proud of partnering with Azavea. We share a common vision on how geospatial technology can improve environment and society. Combining CartoDB with Geotrellis capabilities for analyzing large raster data sets will enable the development of the new generation of geoprocessing applications.”

About Azavea - Azavea is an award-winning geospatial analysis (GIS) software development firm specializing in the creation of location-based web and mobile software as well as geospatial analysis services. Azavea is a certified B Corporation that applies geographic data and technology to promote the emergence of more dynamic, vibrant, and sustainable communities while advancing the state-of-the-art through research. Each of Azavea’s projects, products and pro bono engagements showcases this commitment. Find out more at http://www.azavea.com.

If you would like more information about Azavea or to schedule an interview with Robert Cheetham,

Azavea CEO and President, please contact Amy Trahey at (215) 558 – 6184 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

About CartoDB – CartoDB is a versatile cloud-powered spatial database, mapping, analysis and visualization engine that greatly facilitates the process of building spatial applications for both web and mobile devices; the platform is currently used by major news organizations, research institutions, non-profits and geospatial application developers.

For more information on CartoDB, or to request a press kit or schedule an interview with Javier de la Torre, Vizzuality CEO, please contact Jacek Grebski at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (646) 812-7650.