Traditionally, the art and science of making maps based on aerial photography, or photogrammetry, has been the realm of large companies capable of affording the costs of owning an operating a manned aircraft, the huge payroll weight of pilots, camera operators and navigators and the burdensome operational costs of analog stereo-plotting devices, which required controlled environments and strict building codes to be set up and used.
All of that changed a few years ago with the advent of small aerial unmanned vehicles (sUAV’s) and the digitalization and automation of the cartographic process. Aerial cameras that weighed hundreds of pounds and cost in excess of a million Dollars, now fit in the palm of your hand and weigh just a few grams. Airplanes that cost thousands of Dollars an hour to operate have been replaced, for certain applications, by inexpensive unmanned aerial platforms that require minimum training to operate.
In the office, stereoplotting equipment that weighed two and three tons and required special building characteristics have been replaced by software applications that process digital images, integrate ground control points and create digital terrain models and contour line maps that are equal, or sometimes better, in quality and precision as the old analog products.
This democratization of the mapping industry has also brought an excess of data collection and the creation of products that are difficult to manipulate and perhaps require a higher level of understanding of the technology, such as integration into GIS platforms.
The virtual event brings together experts from all aspects of the mapping industry such as UAV manufacturers, software developers and end users in a unique combination of expertise to analyze the state of the art of mapping in the time of the unmanned platform.
The Democratization of Mapping virtual event will address these issues:
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Hardware – Selection and usage
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Software – Selection according to deliverables
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Testimonials – Companies who have successfully done the migration from land surveying to photogrammetry entities.
Presenters will include hardware manufacturers, software developers and surveying experts who have seen the progression first hand and who can recommend best practices and provide professional advice on what to do and what to avoid when making the progression from pure land surveying company to a full blown photogrammetry firm.
A MUST-ATTEND EVENT FOR:
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Land surveyors
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BLM Officials
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Cartographers
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GIS Users and Managers
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Mapping contracting agencies
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Agriculture managers
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Land use contracting agencies
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Federal/state/municipal Dept. of the Interior personnel/contractors
AGENDA AND SPEAKERS
Agenda at a Glance
Agenda at a Glance
***All times listed in US Mountain Time
Agenda
The Integration of UAS into State Government
Presented by: David Gallagher, UAS Program Manager, Ohio DOT; Jamie Davis, UAS Data Manager, Ohio UAS Center
An in-depth look at how the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Ohio UAS Center fits into Ohio’s government. The Ohio UASC will show examples of how UAS technology is used to help maintain and improve Ohio’s transportation infrastructure. The presentation will cover all ongoing research projects which will give a glimpse of the future of UAS technologies.
Moving from GIS to Aerial Photogrammetry Under Difficult Circumstances
Presented by: Alejandro Chumaceiro, CEO, SIGIS
For over two decades SIGIS C.A. has specialized in GIS implementations, fleet management solutions and ground mapping but with the advent of inexpensive unmanned aerial platforms and accessible stereoplotting software, we decided to launch our aerial photogrammetry services with great success. In this presentation we will show how we moved from land surveying to aerial mapping in just a few short months.
From Land Surveying to Aerial Cartography in an Agricultural Country
Presented by: Ramiro Baez, CEO, I-BC Argentina &
Cesar Camblong, Founder & Director, i-BC SRL.
I-BC SRL in Posadas, Argentina, was founded as a land surveying enterprise but we quickly realized that with the availability of mapping drones and affordable cartographic software, there was an opportunity to present our customers with this valuable tool. In this presentation we present, not only how we made the transition from ground to air operations, but how we had to develop smart phone tools to allow our customers to use the data in the field.
How To Integrate UAS Data Effectively
Presented by: Brant Howard, Co-Founder & Director, and Andrew Carey, Business Development Manager- Unmanned Geospatial Solutions, CompassDrone
What UAS data can and cannot do for your organization…
As unmanned technology systems become more commonly pursued by organizations, a detailed data ingestion strategy and utilization plan will ensure effective implementation.
A variety of platforms, sensors, and processing software suites have been introduced in the UAS market.
While each piece of a UAS program or service may have specific goals to attain, a holistic understanding of the potential uses of data can maximize a program’s effectiveness and confident growth. Pretty Pictures won’t solve anything…
Core questions for effective implementation.
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What Problem are you trying to solve?
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What data requirements (Accuracy, formats, fidelity) are necessary to solve your problems?
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How is the data ingested, shared, stored?
Panel Discussion: Obstacles to Democratization; It is Definitely Cheaper But is It Easy?
Moderated by: Juan Plaza
Panelists:
Joshua Resnick, CEO, Parallel Flight Technologies
Ted Lindsley, CEO, SqwaQ
Greg Crustinger, Director of Applied Research, GeoAcuity
Financial considerations play a key and deciding role in the democratization of mapping but, as always, are not the only considerations. Flying an aircraft in the national airspace requires a pilot’s license and a drone registration from the FAA, flying time is also an obstacle to mapping larger areas and might be a deterrent to certain missions. Legal, safety and insurance considerations also play a big role in the decision to upgrade to aerial cartography. This panel will discuss the eventual downsides of this upgrade and the opportunities that can be created with photogrammetry capabilities.
How To Get Control of Your Ground Control
Presented by: Larry Fox, VP Marketing & Business Development, BadElf, LLC
Collecting accurate ground control requires planning and understanding of the results desired. Ground control provides a means to rectify drone imagery to real-world coordinate systems and locations. More importantly, the spatial accuracy of imagery collected from a drone is only as good as the spatial features used as a reference to known locations.
This presentation discusses a set of techniques, using a high-accuracy GNSS receiver, refined through real-world testing. Methods covered include stand-alone, RTK, and post-corrected logging. As part of this presentation, lessons learned for target placement and field best practices are discussed in detail.
SPEAKERS
***All times listed in US Mountain Time