Oregon Statewide Imagery Program Expands Free Data

Posted on December 11, 2018 by lidar
Logo for Quantum Spatial Oregon Statewide Imagery Program

Oregon Statewide Imagery Program

Quantum Spatial, Inc. (QSI), the nation’s largest independent geospatial data firm, announced that a new online offering from the Oregon Statewide Imagery Program featuring high resolution imagery acquired by QSI is now available to the public for free.

PORTLAND, Ore., Dec. 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Oregon Statewide Imagery Program (OSIP) – the largest of its kind in the Western U.S. – contracted QSI to obtain one-foot resolution imagery over the entire state, covering almost 100,000 square miles, as well as process and host current and historical imagery in the Oregon Imagery Explorer. Through the online portal, users can easily view current images of every location in the state, compare them to past images and download them into their GIS tools at no cost to create base maps, do analysis or leverage for other types of industry-specific applications.

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Posted in airborne LiDAR, Data, Environmental, Forestry, GIS, Government, Infrastructure, Lidar, Mapping, Open Source, Photogrammetry, remote sensing, Research, Software, topography | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Flight Evolved Uses Lidar to Inspect Transmission Lines

Posted on December 10, 2018 by lidar

Flight Evolved says according to an estimate in 2010, there are approximately 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in the United States. That is a lot of transmission structures!

Photo of transmission line Flight Evolved

Flight Evolved

However, the same estimate claims that there are approximately 5.5 million miles of local distribution lines. That is a staggering amount. Not only are there millions of miles, but in many cases these lines were constructed in the 60’s and 70’s and are decades old. These wood poles, though stout, are reaching the end of their lifecycle.

With this many miles of line, it should come as no surprise that the current condition, location, and health of many of these lines is simply not known. We see fires generated from falling conductors in California, wind events taking out power in rural areas, and outdated GIS and information data systems with inaccurate and incomplete data.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, airborne LiDAR, Data, Environmental, Feature Extraction, Forestry, Lidar, Mapping, point clouds, remote sensing, Software, Surveying, topography, UAS, UAVs | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

AeroVironment is Helping NPS with Woolsey Fire Aftermath

Posted on December 9, 2018 by lidar

With nearly 100,000 acres and over 600 park structures destroyed AeroVironment is providing critical services to the assess the damage. The Woolsey wildfire burned almost 90% of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Southern California. Simply and painfully devastating.

Photo of AeroVironment UAV

AeroVironment UAV

Working in close collaboration with National Park Service park rangers and scientists, AeroVironment Commercial Information Solutions Unmanned Aircraft Systems flight operations and Geographic Information Science teams have initiated a comprehensive drone-based aerial imaging and environmental impact study to assess fire damage in key areas of the park.

Aerial imagery data collected will be used to quantify oak tree mortality and vegetation stress, in addition to documenting the dramatic changes in park visitor experience.

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Posted in Agriculture, cultural heritage, Data, Environmental, Forestry, Government, Mapping, Photogrammetry, remote sensing, Research, Sensors, Software, Surveying, Technology, topography, UAS, UAVs | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

2019 Geospatial Summit Update From NGS

Posted on December 7, 2018 by lidar

The NGS has announced that the Draft Agenda for this summer’s 2019 Geospatial Summit, to be held in Silver Spring, Maryland May 6 – 7, 2019, is now available In addition, they issued a Call for Case Studies focusing on the expected impacts of the planned replacement of the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) and the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88).

logo for 2019 Geospatial Summit

2019 Geospatial Summit

As many of you know who follow Lidar News, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is in the process of modernizing the horizontal and vertical datums for the U.S. geodetic survey control networks. This will take place in 2022,

The Summit will focus on the NGS plans to replace the current datums with an impressive upgrade that will have major impacts on not only the geodetic community, but the UAV and autonomous vehicle industry, among others, for many years to come.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, Autonomous vehicles, Conferences, geodetic, Geomatics, Government, Mapping, Software, UAS, UAVs | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

November 2018 Lidar News Video of the Month

Posted on December 6, 2018 by lidar

It’s time to vote for the November 2018 Lidar News Video of the Month. Here is the list of outstanding videos for you to consider:

logo for November 2018 LN Video of the Month

November 2018 LN Video of the Month

To cast your vote please click here. The voting will close on Monday December 14, 2018 at midnight. In general, people tend to underestimate the power of visualization. We live in a 3D world, and our technology is now capable of providing 3D analysis and visualization, but in many cases people do not take full advantage of the Power of 3D.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, artificial intelligence, Autonomous vehicles, BIM, Business Development, GIS, LN Video of the Month, machine learning, Mapping, point clouds, Sensors, Software, Surveying, Surveying Engineering | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Surveying Engineering – 50 Years in the Profession

Posted on December 5, 2018 by lidar

This is a once in a lifetime moment. Not only am I celebrating my 50th year in the surveying engineering profession, but I am going to be re-visiting Hawaii exactly 50 years from my first and only other time there. Don’t be too envious, it’s for work – most of the time.

Photo of Pearl Harbor Memorial Surveying Engineering and Pearl Harbor - 50 Years Later

Surveying Engineering and The USS Arizona Memorial – 50 Years Later

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Posted in cultural heritage, Government, Historic Preservation, Mapping, Surveying Engineering, US Army | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Murphy Surveys Setting the Standard for BIM and FM

Posted on December 5, 2018 by lidar

Murphy Surveys commissions the latest digital tools to truthfully capture comprehensive 3D point cloud data, recording the built environment with extraordinary detail and accuracy, regardless of the nature or use of the building.

photo of laser scanners Murphy Surveys On the Job

Murphy Surveys On the Job

From an article by the Editor of BIMIreland.ie

The point clouds and high resolution, high dynamic ranging imagery datasets support drafting and modelling tasks, an office based process that enables the development of dependable and authentic digital copies of reality.

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Posted in 3D Modeling, BIM, Business Development, Data, Indoor Mapping, Laser Scanning, Mapping, Marketing, point clouds, Quality, Software, Standards, Surveying | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Career Strategic Plans and Setting Goals for 2019

Posted on December 4, 2018 by lidar

It’s that time of year where, in companies around the globe, senior management is sitting down to update, or maybe re- design, the corporate strategic plans for the coming year and beyond, or at least they should be, but what about your career strategic plans? Why should senior management have all the fun?

Corporate Strategic Plans

Graphic of Career Strategic Plans

Career Strategic Plans

There is a valid reason why this strategic planning ritual is played out each year, especially in successful companies – it works! Having a budget, marketing plan, sales quotas, hiring plans and more provides a road map for all of the staff to follow.

The problem is in many cases the plans are not well communicated to the staff. As the year progresses the goals and strategies become lost in the daily grind of responding to unplanned events, or what we all know of as crisis management and then, it’s the end of the year.

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Posted in Admin, Business Development, Marketing, Quality, The Industry, training, Young Geospatial Professional | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

DEM Users Manual 3rd Edition is Now Available

Posted on December 3, 2018 by lidar

The 3rd edition of the DEM Users Manual includes 15 chapters, three appendices and a detailed Index. References in the eBook version are hyperlinked which is coming soon.

Image of ocean DEM Users Manual

DEM Users Manual

Chapter and appendix titles include:

1. Introduction to DEMs
2. Vertical Datums
3. Standards, Guidelines & Specifications
4. The National Elevation Dataset (NED)
5. The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP)
6. Photogrammetry
7. IfSAR
8. Airborne Topographic Lidar
9. Lidar Data Processing
10. Airborne Lidar Bathymetry
11. Sonar
12. Enabling Technologies
13. DEM User Applications
14. DEM User Requirements & Benefits
15. Quality Assessment of Elevation Data
A. Acronyms
B. Definitions
C. Sample Datasets

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Posted in 3D Modeling, Agriculture, airborne LiDAR, bathymetric, Data, Education, Environmental, Forestry, GIS, Hydrographic LiDAR, Laser Scanning, Lidar, Mapping, Photogrammetry, Quality, remote sensing, Research, Software, Standards, topography | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Site Operations Engineer – University of Washington Opening

Posted on December 2, 2018 by lidar

This Site Operations Engineer is a fantastic opportunity for an individual looking to be on the cutting edge of the latest 3D technology and applied research.

Description of Site Operations Engineer for RAPID

Site Operations Engineer for RAPID

The Site Operations Engineer will support the National Science Foundation (NSF) NHERI (Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure) RAPID Facility at the University of Washington.

RAPID is a shared use facility, and its mission is to serve the needs of reconnaissance researchers supported by NSF or other agencies.

The RAPID enables state-of-the-art field collection of perishable scientific, engineering, and social science data following natural disasters.

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Posted in airborne LiDAR, Autonomous vehicles, bathymetric, Environmental, Feature Extraction, Forensics, geodetic, Geomatics, GIS, GNSS, Government, Hardware, Infrastructure, Inspection, Laser Scanning, Lidar, Mobile LiDAR, Photogrammetry, point clouds, remote sensing, Research, Software, Surveying, Surveying Engineering, Technology, The Industry, UAS, UAVs | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment