GPS World

Tag: MAPPS

  • MAPPS presents excellence awards, bestows highest honor to Teledyne Optech

    From left to right: John Palatiello, MAPPS executive Director; Jim Green; Mike Sitar and Michel Stanier of Optech Teledyne.
    From (L to R) John Palatiello, MAPPS executive Director; Jim Green; Mike Sitar and Michel Stanier of Optech Teledyne.

    Teledyne Optech‘s ALTM Titan lidar sensor earned the 2015 Grand Award in the ninth annual MAPPS Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards, MAPPS recently announced in a news release. The awards ceremony was held Feb. 2 at the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, Nev.

    Teledyne was also presented with an award in the Technology Innovation category.

    The company said in a news release that Titan is easy to handle in complex scenarios, such as acquiring three wavelengths simultaneously; incorporating a metric camera imbedded in the system; creating a sensor that fits in a 16-inch gyro-stabilized mount; and increasing the depth penetration of the bathymetric sensor. To achieve this, Vaughan, Ontario-based Teledyne Optech had to develop new fiber lasers and a triple wavelength receiver which allowed for the collection of bathymetric lidar, topographic lidar and multispectral lidar in one single sensor.

    “Teledyne Optech’s ALTM Titan is a marvel in lidar engineering,” said Robert Burtch PS, CP, professor emeritus at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., and chairman of the panel of judges. “This development allows the collection of bathymetric lidar, topographic lidar and multispectral lidar in one single sensor.”

    The MAPPS awards competition recognizes the professionalism, value, integrity and achievement that member firms have demonstrated in their projects and technology developments over the previous year.

    MAPPS also honored winners in six technical categories.

    Woolpert of Dayton, Ohio, was selected in the Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Generation category with the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument Headstone Mapping Project that utilized lidar to locate and map 4,320 headstones and 280 battlefield markers.

    The winning project in the Remote Sensing category was by Aerial Services Inc. of Cedar Falls, Iowa, for The Race for Now: Maximizing Crop Yields Using Innovations in Remote Sensing project, which acquired imagery using multiple sensors during the critical growing phases to produce a web-based precision agriculture service in the State of Iowa.

    In the GIS/IT category, Merrick & Company of Greenwood Village, Colo., was selected for GIS Models Visualize Ancient Flooding Problems in the country of Columbia. As project manager, Merrick provided technology transfer and GIS data and training, and introduced a new methodology, “monotonicity,” which guarantees that acoustic bathymetry, lidar and breaklines are correctly integrated.

    The winner in the Surveying/Field Data Collection category was the Baltimore, Md., office of AECOM for its Protocol for Determining Grass Channel Credits project. Using GIS, lidar and aerial imagery, AECOM worked with the Maryland State Highway Administration to identify roadway ditches to assure compliance with the Department of the Environment grass channel treatment criteria.

    TerraSond of Palmer, Ark., earned the award in the Small Projects category for the Bradley Lake Hydro Power project. TerraSond teamed to perform an inspection of a diversion tunnel to a dam and power tunnel inlet in Homer, Alaska to identify the quantity of debris that was covering the inlet screen by comparing the debris profile with the as-built drawings to determine the amount of debris that needed to be removed.

    Titan, Teledyne Optech’s multi-spectral lidar sensor, also won in the Technology Innovation category.

    A panel of independent judges evaluated projects submitted by MAPPS members for the awards program.

  • MAPPS Selected for FAA Registration Task Force

    MAPPS has accepted an invitation from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to be a member of the UAS Registration Task Force (RTF) Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC).

    MAPPS is a national association of private-sector firms in the surveying, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States and a leader on the use of unmanned aircraft systems in the geospatial field.

    The UAS RTF ARC was announced on Monday by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to help minimize potentially unsafe UAS operations and incidents. The task force will work to develop minimum requirements for a UAS registration process for safe integration of UAS into the National Airspace.

    MAPPS has tapped John Perry, founder and CEO of Altavian based in Gainesville, Fla., to represent the association on the task force.

    “We are pleased and honored that the FAA has invited MAPPS to participate in the UAS RTF ARC,” said MAPPS President Susan Marlow. “MAPPS has actively called on the FAA to move forward with UAS rulemaking, and we are thrilled to be a part of the process.”

    MAPPS has been a voice for the commercial use of UAS for geospatial data acquisition. The association has been engaged with FAA on UAS issues since 2009 and testified before state legislatures and participated in Congressional roundtables. MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello was appointed to serve on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) working group on beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations of commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and the association serves on a committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to develop policy recommendations to the 50 state legislatures on UAS.

    On Nov. 17-18, MAPPS will host sessions on geospatial activities at Drone World Expo, at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, Calif. The geospatial content will explore factors to consider when planning the start-up of a stand-alone UAS business, or a department in an existing surveying or mapping firm. It will kick off with a presentation on “What You Need to Know Before Starting Up Your Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Department,” as well as instruction on issues including system operating limitations, flight training, crew responsibilities, operator authority, client expectations, standards and licensing. Speakers at the policy conference will include Bryan Baker, UAS sales manager, Leica Geosystems; Jeff Lovin, senior vice president, director of Geospatial Services, Woolpert; Andy Nickerson of Aerovel Corp.; Mike Tully, president, Aerial Services, Inc.; and David Yoel, CEO, American Aerospace, Inc.

  • MAPPS Offers Guidelines on Privacy and Geospatial Data

    MAPPS, the national association of private-sector geospatial firms, released a Best Practices Guideline for firms’ handling of geospatial data to protect individual citizen privacy.

    In an effort to establish best practices, principles and a self-regulatory framework for its member firms, a MAPPS task force led by MAPPS President Susan Marlow (Stantec, Nashville, Tenn.) drafted the guideline.

    The guideline was developed in response to a March 2012 report of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), report Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change, in which “the Commission calls on individual companies, trade associations, and self-regulatory bodies to adopt the principles contained in the final privacy framework.”

    The FTC sought to protect the privacy of individual citizens’ “sensitive” data, including “precise geolocation data” that included, for example, an address. However, FTC did not define the term “precise geolocation data” and recommended that before any firm could collect, store, or use such data, it would be required to “provide prominent disclosures and obtain affirmative express consent before using consumer data in a materially different manner than claimed when the data was collected…”

    The MAPPS guideline provides assistance to firms when determining when it should obtain individual consent for collection of geospatial data and when it is not needed to protect privacy. It was released at the association’s annual conference held in July in Sunriver, Ore.

    “Recent legislative and regulatory efforts to protect consumers and citizens in the name of privacy have cast a wide net, creating unintended consequences for mapping and geospatial firms,” said John Palatiello, MAPPS executive director. “Geospatial data is derived from images and data collected from a variety of airborne and space borne platforms, as well as other mobile and terrestrial-based acquisition systems. This imagery and data is collected, utilized and applied in geographic information systems (GIS) by companies operating within the safeguards, rights and framework established by the Fourth and 14th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and with government often the client.  This document helps engage in lawful, ethical and professional practice that is respectful of individual citizens.”

  • MAPPS Announces 2015 Geospatial Excellence Awards Competition

    MAPPS, the association of private sector geospatial firms, is accepting entries for the 9th Annual MAPPS Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards. The Excellence Awards exemplify the professionalism, value, integrity and achievement of MAPPS member firms as demonstrated over the previous year.

    A panel of five judges will evaluate the submitted projects from eight categories.

    • airborne and satellite data acquisition;
    • photogrammetry/elevation data generation;
    • remote sensing;
    • GIS/IT;
    • surveying/field data collection;
    • small projects;
    • technology innovation;
    • licensed data products.

    The panel will review each submission and select a winner for each category. A Grand Award will be presented from the category award winners to represent the MAPPS Project of the Year. Winners will be announced at the 2016 MAPPS Winter Conference in Las Vegas, Nev. The deadline for entries is October 31, 2015.

    Click here to learn more about the submission process.

  • FAA Unmanned Aircraft Manager to Speak at MAPPS Conference

    Jim Williams, manager for the Federal Aviation Administration’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) office, will be the keynote speaker at the MAPPS National Surveying, Mapping and Geospatial Conference, scheduled for April 13-16 in Crystal City (Arlington),Va.

    Williams will speak at a luncheon on April 14. He’ll address the recently published notice of proposed rulemaking issued by his office in FAA, including regulations and policies that will affect surveying and mapping firms that want to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and UAS in the commercial market.

    “MAPPS has worked with Mr. Williams and his staff for several years to assure that business and societal benefits of using UAV/UAS for aerial surveying, mapping and imagery are recognized and empowered in FAA policy,” said John Palatiello, MAPPS executive director. “UAV/UAS technology is the future of the mapping, surveying and geospatial profession. It is imperative that geospatial firms have the ability to operate UAV/UAS.  Mr. Williams understands this, and his office’s policies have reflected his understanding of our community as an important stakeholder.” 

    “We’re honored to have Mr. Williams join us at the conference. We look forward to hearing how he sees the future of UAV/UAS and how it will effect the business and professional practice of surveying and mapping,” said Curtis Sumner, National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) executive director. “His addition to the conference strengthens an already outstanding program.”

    Full registration for the conference is required for admission to the keynote luncheon.

  • MAPPS and NSPS Announce 2015 Conference General Sessions

    MAPPS and the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) have announced a program of general sessions for their joint surveying, mapping and geospatial conference, Collaboration: The Map to the Future, to be held April 13-16 at the Hilton Hotel in Crystal City Arlington, Va.

    “These sessions will provide attendees and members perspectives on some of the major issues facing the profession,” said John Palatiello, MAPPS executive director, and Curtis Sumner, NSPS executive director. “Our goal from the beginning was to provide conference sessions that are distinct from what surveyors experience at their state conferences. These presentations will give conference attendees and members new insights on the geospatial profession, particularly in the commercial market.”

    The speakers for Monday, April 13, are listed below, along with the session name.

    • Michael Anderson, POB magazine, “POB Top 100″
    • Bryan Baker, Leica, “What You Need to Know Before Starting Up Your Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Department”
    • Pam Nobles, Rob Garster, “What Is Surveying? A Discussion of Infringing Technologies”

    The speakers for Wednesday, April 15, are listed below, along with the session name.

    • Rhonda Rushing and a panel from Berntsen Inc., “Smart Markers for the Nation’s Land & Infrastructure Assets”
    • Ted Naak, Certainty 3D, “Establishing Requirements, Extracting Metrics and Evaluating Quality of LiDAR Data”
    • Neil Sandler and a panel from xyHT magazine, “Are You Prepared for Change?”

    The overall conference will serve as an umbrella to include plenary sessions, an exhibit hall, and social and networking activities designed to create synergy among the many vertical segments. It will also feature a “conference within a conference” format, in which participating organizations will hold their own meetings and sessions.

    MAPPS will host its annual Federal Programs Conference April 14-15. Presentations by federal agencies, the Obama Administration and members of Congress will include briefings on programs, budgets and requirements for the acquisition of geospatial services, data and products by contract from the private sector.

    NSPS will host the finals of its annual Student Competition on April 13. The 2014-15 competition will, for the first time, include not only student teams from four-year degree programs, but also teams from two-year degree programs. The NSPS annual General Membership meeting and other business meetings will be scheduled throughout the week in order to allow NSPS leadership to more fully participate in conference activities.

    MAPPS and NSPS members will visit some 200 Congressmen and Senators at the U.S. Capitol, advancing a common agenda of legislative issues that serve the public and engage the surveying and mapping community.

    Also on the program will be an invitation-only USGS 3DEP stakeholders meeting, a summit by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a licensed geospatial data forum by the Geospatial Management Office (GMO) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

    Detailed information on the event can be seen in the GPS World events calendar.

  • POB Magazine to Present Top 100 Project at MAPPS/NSPS Conference

    POBTop100InsideLogoPOB (Point of Beginning) magazine is conducting a surveying and mapping market study that will rank the top 100 companies based on total geospatial revenue for 2014.

    Michael Anderson, editor of POB, will be presenting the “POB Top 100″ project at MAPPS and the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) national surveying, mapping and geospatial conference, Collaboration: The Map of the Future, to be held April 13-16 at the Hilton Crystal City in Arlington, Va.

    Rankings will be based on total revenue from surveying, aerial mapping, geospatial imagery, 3D modeling, BIM, GIS/IT, underground mapping and other geospatial services.

    “Collaboration is key to success in the geospatial community,” said John Palatiello, MAPPS executive director. “We’re pleased POB has chosen this forum to help launch this important project.”

    Collaboration: The Map of the Future will bring together associations, professional societies, companies and government agencies in the surveying, mapping and geospatial fields. The event hopes to bridge gaps between government agencies and the private sector, as well as explore different disciplines in the community. It also will prove a forum for discussions on best practices, technology, issues and policies.

    The conference features a “conference within a conference” format, in which participating organizations will hold respective meetings and sessions.

    “Surveyors have long relied on POB as a major source of news and information about the profession and its market study and Top 100 listing will be a significant contribution,” said Curtis W. Sumner, LS, executive director of NSPS.

  • Trimble’s Southard Elected to MAPPS Board

    MAPPS, an association of private-sector geospatial firms, has elected George Southard of Trimble Navigation Limited to the MAPPS Board of Directors, representing the association’s associate members.

    At its winter conference in January, the MAPPS membership approved a change to the association’s bylaws to create a non-voting, ex officio seat on the board, to be elected by and from associate member firms. Southard is the first to hold the seat, having been elected by his fellow associate members earlier this month.

    MAPPS is the a national association of firms in the surveying, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States. MAPPS member firms are engaged in surveying, photogrammetry, satellite and airborne remote sensing, aerial photography, hydrography, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS and GIS data collection and conversion services. Associate members include firms that provide products and services to member firms, as well as other firms worldwide.

    Southard has been an active participant in MAPPS since 1993. He’s served on various committees and presented at MAPPS conferences. He has served on the MAPPS Membership, Aerial Acquisition, Program and Associate Members Committees. He has been chair of the Associate Members Committee and most recently as the chair of the UAS Sub-committee to the Aerial Acquisition Forum. Southard has been on the association’s Nominations Committee for several MAPPS Board elections and was the MAPPS representative to the ASPRS Frank Moffitt Memorial Scholarship Committee.  

    “We’re pleased to have George join the board,” said MAPPS President Jeff Lower (Precision Aerial Reconnaissance, LLC). “He is a recognized leader in our profession and will bring a valued and respected voice to MAPPS and our board.”

  • MAPPS Fall Conference Planned in Conjunction with Drone Expo

    Drone World Expo, an event for commercial drone technologies and applications, is partnering with MAPPS to bring together stakeholders, constituents, and all levels of government in the surveying, mapping, and geospatial fields. The MAPPS Conference will be held as a part of Drone World Expo, set for November 17-18 at the San Jose, Calif., Convention Center.

    “With all of the exciting developments taking place in the UAV industry, we are thrilled to bring the breadth and depth of knowledge from MAPPS to our event,” said Joel Davis, CEO, JD Events, producers of the show. “Attendees to the MAPPS conference will have free access to the Drone World Expo trade show floor, general sessions and networking events, and we look forward to welcoming their members to this must-attend event.”

    The MAPPS Conference will be a forum for discussion on issues and policies, sharing of information and provision of education, and collaboration, specifically related to the geospatial applications of UAV technology.

    “MAPPS is thrilled to be part of Drone World Expo,” said John Palatiello, MAPPS executive director. “We believe UAVs will play an integral role in the future of surveying and mapping, and it is vitally important we lead the discussion in terms of investment, technology, applications and regulations.  MAPPS looks forward to presenting quality content on the geospatial market for UAVs at Drone World Expo.”

    In addition to the MAPPS Conference, Drone World Expo will also offer a two-day conference that will feature sessions and case studies addressing data collection and processing, sensors, piloting and safety management, FAA updates, certification standards, and commercial strategies, and will offer informative sessions on the impact drones are having on geographic information systems (GIS), Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT).

    The Drone World Expo Conference is being developed with the help of an advisory board on which Palatiello serves.

  • MAPPS Supports Proposed FAA UAV Rules

    MAPPS has come out in support of the proposed framework of regulations that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed for commercial UAV use. The FAA’s rules would allow routine use of certain small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for commercial purposes.

    MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello issued the following statement about the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) issued by the FAA concerning operation and certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS):

    “The proposed rules issued by the FAA for the commercial use of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will provide considerable potential business applications for MAPPS member firms in the aerial survey profession. According to the FAA, the following are examples of possible small UAS operations that could be conducted under the proposed regulations: crop monitoring/inspection; research and development; educational/academic uses; power-line/pipeline inspection in hilly or mountainous terrain; antenna inspections; aiding rescue operations such as locating snow avalanche victims; bridge inspections; aerial photography; and wildlife nesting area evaluations.

    “In the past, MAPPS has worked closely with the FAA to enable the commercial use of small UAS (which, as defined by statute, is an unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds) for aerial survey purposes through various mechanisms, such as special airworthiness certificates, exemptions, and certificates of waiver or authorization (COA). MAPPS will continue to support the proposed federal regulations, which will provide for the next phase of integrating small UAS into the national airspace system.”

    MAPPS will provide comments to the FAA concerning the proposed rules, and the association will continue to educate its member firms about operational limitations of small UAS in order to maintain the safety of the national airspace system and ensure that they do not pose a threat to national security.

    As a member of a Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) working group advising the FAA on Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) regulations, Palatiello added, “Prompt implementation of the small, line-of-sight UAS rules will help strike the necessary balance between aviation safety and business development, but the next set of rules, governing beyond visual line of sight, need to be developed and implemented as soon as possible as well.”

    “MAPPS has made the case that aerial geospatial data acquisition using UAS provides significant societal benefit and is NOT a threat to individual citizen privacy, and should be permitted to operate within a reasonable regulatory framework,” MAPPS Aviation Counsel Gregory S. Winton said. “It contributes to E911 emergency response and police dispatching systems, precision agriculture, environmental protection, emergency ‘blue tarp’ surveys to support hurricane response, engineering, transportation and infrastructure, electoral district maps, and many other applications. Geospatial data enables the delivery of critical government services and valuable business applications that citizens are demanding. The proposed FAA rule will enable this profession, which has an exemplary safety record and vast experience in manned aerial operations, to use of UAS safely, effectively and economically.”

  • MAPPS Chosen for FAA Working Group on UAS

    MAPPS, the national association of private sector geospatial firms, has been selected as a member of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) working group on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). MAPPS is the only representative of the geospatial, aerial survey, and remote-sensing community on the committee.

    “As an association representing the many private sector businesses that are anxious to use unmanned aerial systems for commercial geospatial applications, we are honored to participate on this important committee,” said John Palatiello, MAPPS Executive Director, who will sit on the committee. “The geospatial community has been safely flying aircraft for decades and understands the safety implications of introducing a new technology in the national airspace. Our members see a great opportunity to utilize UAS to provide new geospatial data and applications benefiting the citizens of the United States.”

    The Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) user working group will hold its first meeting today. FAA has tasked the committee to provide input from users or potential users of UAS on immediate, near, and long-term issues for integrating UAS into the national airspace system.

    The committee is co-chaired by Michael Toscano, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), Melissa Rudinger, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), and Mark Reed, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).  According to Jim Williams, Manager of the UAS Integration Office in FAA, the associations represent “a diverse group of potential UAS users in certain key industries, such as agriculture, mapping, photography, energy, public safety, cargo, communications, and others.

    Palatiello has been MAPPS Executive Director since 1987.  He was an original member of the federal government’s National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC) and currently serves on the Virginia Geographic Information Network (VGIN) Advisory Board.  He is president of John M. Palatiello & Associates, Inc., an association management and public affairs consulting firm, where he is a national government affairs consultant to the National Society of Professional Surveyors, Executive Director of the Maryland Society of Surveyors, and Administrator of the Council on Federal Procurement of Architectural & Engineering Services (COFPAES). Palatiello was named one of the ten most influential people in the geospatial community by Directions Magazine.

  • Digital Coast Act Introduced in U.S. Senate

    A bill to establish a “Digital Coast” program whereby the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) develops a coordinated and comprehensive national mapping effort for coastal, state and territorial waters of the United States, has been introduced in the U.S. Senate, earning praise from MAPPS (the national association of private sector geospatial firms).

    More than half of all Americans, 153 million people, live on or near a coast, and an additional 12 million are expected to move to the coasts over the next decade. Yet, despite this population density and economic development, much of the 95,000 miles of U.S. shoreline does not have current, accurate maps and geospatial information; moreover, much of what does exist pre-dates the 1970s.

    “The Digital Coast Act is needed to realize the concept of a Digital Coast as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS),” said MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello. “The Digital Coast Act provides an opportunity to help America’s ocean, coastal and shoreline areas by addressing issues raised by the U.S. Oceans Commission, the Pew Commission, as well as several NAS reports, all of which have highlighted the need for surveying, charting, remote sensing, and geospatial data of America’s coasts, harbors, ports, shorelines and ocean resources critical to the nation’s most basic economic and recreational activities, to smartly conserve a fragile environment.”

    “Greater emphasis has been paid to monitoring sea-level rise, coastal conservation and emergency preparedness and response in the wake of natural and manmade disasters,” MAPPS President Jeff Lower, said. “This Digital Coast Act will coordinate the pooling of resources from multiple agencies (federal, state, and local) and other stakeholders to map the various needs once, and then utilize and apply the high-quality data and products numerous times, thus reducing taxpayer waste while maximizing the return on investment for all stakeholders.” 
    The Digital Coast is a geospatially enabled program to improve coordination and support work with stakeholders to identify geospatial priorities; improve coordination of coastal mapping and management activities; use standards and standardized methods for data acquisition, processing, and distribution to ensure broadest utility of data; promote best practices when applying geospatial data for coastal decision making; and contract for the collection and creation of quality non-navigation feature data sets to include: shoreline change, satellite and aerial imagery, land use and land cover maps, benthic habitat mapping, terrestrial topography, shallow water bathymetry, and submerged aquatic vegetation.

    U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin introduced the Digital Coast Act of 2014 on September 18. The bill compliments a bipartisan effort in the U.S. House of Representatives by C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-MD) and Don Young (R-AK), cosponsors of Digital Coast Act, H.R 1382.