GPS World

Tag: Puerto Rico

  • Lidar reveals lost cities in the Amazon

    Lidar reveals lost cities in the Amazon

    A lidar map of the city of Kunguints in the Ecuadorian Amazon reveals ancient streets lined with houses. (Image: Antoine Dorison and Stephen Rostain)
    A lidar map of the city of Kunguints in the Ecuadorian Amazon reveals ancient streets lined with houses. (Image: Antoine Dorison and Stephen Rostain)

    Archeologists have discovered a vast and highly complex system of ancient cities dating back nearly 3,000 years in the Amazon rainforest. Complete with a complex network of farmland and roads, the discovery is the oldest and largest of its kind in the region.

    Located in Ecuador’s Upano Valley, the structures lie in the eastern foothills of the Andes mountains, according to a study published in the journal Science. After more than 20 years of research, the ancient urban centers were only discovered when the Ecuadorean government employed lidar technology.

    “I have explored the site many times, but lidar gave me another view of the land,” archaeologist Stéphen Rostain, lead author of the study and director of research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), told Live Science. “On foot, you have trees in the way, and it’s difficult to see what’s actually hidden there.”

    A team of researchers from France, Germany, Ecuador and Puerto Rico conducted a lidar survey that covered roughly 300 km2. The survey revealed a landscape full of organized human activities, including more than 6,000 rectangular earthen platforms, as well as agricultural terraces and drainage systems.

    According to the study, these structures formed at least 15 distinct settlements, which were connected by a system of wide, straight roads. Co-author Antoine Dorison, an archaeologist at the CNRS, said that this society’s complexity is especially evident in this web of streets, which were carefully constructed to cross at right angles rather than follow the landscape.

    In recent years, lidar has been a vital tool for discovering traces of ancient civilizations. Lidar allows researchers to survey densely forested areas that are difficult to explore on foot and allows for the creation of accurate maps in a fraction of the time.

    In August 2023, a team of researchers in a biological preserve in Mexico’s Campeche State used airborne lasers to cut through dense vegetation. This revealed ancient structures and human-modified landscapes beneath, including pyramids, palaces, and a ball court. The team was able to explore the dense area safely and identified the ancient Mayan city they discovered as Ocomtún.

  • Hexagon updates Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands aerial imagery and elevation mapping data

    Hexagon updates Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands aerial imagery and elevation mapping data

    Image: Hexagon
    Image: Hexagon

    Hexagon’s Geosystems division has updated high-resolution aerial data covering the entire Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of the HxGN Content Program.

    Captured during the 2021-2023 flying seasons, the data set includes four-band, 6-inch resolution orthorectified imagery of Puerto Rico — except Isla Mona and Isla Desecheo, which are offered at 12-inch resolution. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, four-band orthorectified imagery of St. Thomas and St. John Islands are offered at 6-inch resolution and St. Croix Island at 12-inch resolution.

    Additionally, updated 12-inch resolution digital surface model data of both regions are available.

    In the past, aerial imagery from the HxGN Content Program has served as baseline data sets with unbiased records of property and infrastructure conditions prior to events such as Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and the earthquake of 2019. The imagery has also provided information for emergency preparation, response, and management.

    In addition to emergency management, the HxGN Content Program aerial imagery is used in engineering, agriculture, utility, mapping, and artificial intelligence/machine learning applications.

    The HxGN Content Program offers a large library of high-resolution aerial imagery, elevation data, 3D models and analytics of North America and Western Europe.

    The refreshed Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands orthoimagery and DSMs are available now through a streaming subscription using standard mapping APIs or via pixel download on the Hexagon Digital Reality (HxDR) Data Store.

  • Dewberry to update lidar for Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands after hurricane

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has selected Dewberry, a privately held professional services firm, to collect and process Quality Level 1 topographic lidar data of Puerto Rico, including the islands of Culebra, Vieques and Isla de Mona; and the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas.

    The new data will be used to identify the impact of Category 5 Hurricane Maria, which struck the territories in September 2017.

    Digital elevation model of El Yunque National Forest produced from 2016 topographic lidar data. (Image: Dewberry)

    The project will be completed under Dewberry’s Geospatial Product and Services Contract with USGS to support the agency’s 3D Elevation Program.

    Dewberry has been performing mapping, mitigation planning and sea-level rise studies in Puerto Rico for more than 10 years, primarily serving the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

    In a similar effort, the firm recently collected and processed more than 3,400 square miles of topographic and bathymetric lidar data for USGS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

    For that project, the data were collected prior to Hurricane Maria’s landfall, and the new data will be assessed in comparison to that dataset to evaluate the storm’s impact. Lidar data have not been collected for the U.S. Virgin Islands in more than 10 years.

    Digital Elevation Model of the Guajataca Lake Dam produced from 2016 topographic lidar data. (Image: Dewberry)

    The new lidar data will be collected, processed and delivered by the spring of 2019. Dewberry will perform all ground surveys and its geospatial team will complete the processing and creation of digital elevation models and other ancillary products. The firm’s subconsultant, Leading Edge Geomatics, will perform the data acquisition using two Riegl VQ1560i sensors.

    “The pre-storm data we had collected and processed under our prior task order was instrumental in assisting FEMA, its partners and the local Puerto Rican government in planning and conducting its post-Maria disaster recovery work,” said Amar Nayegandhi, CP, CMS, GISP, vice president of geospatial and technology services for Dewberry. “The new data are being collected at a higher density to also support the infrastructure community and will show how the storm has altered the terrain.”