2011 Geospatial Excellence Award Information
Categories
A. Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition
B. Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Genderation
C. Remote Sensing
D. GIS/IT
E. Surveying/Field Data Collection - NEW!
F. Small Projects
G. Technology Innovation
MAPPS Excellence Awards Reception & Fall Policy Conference
MAPPS Excellence Awards Reception
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
7:00 PM - 9:00 PMHilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel, Herndon, VA
13869 Park Center Road
Herndon, VA 20171
(During the ASPRS/Pecora Symposium)
Reception and Conference Registration
Sponsored by 
2011 Judges:
Robert Burtch, Chairman
Robert Burtch, professor in the Surveying Engineering Program at Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI, where he teaches courses in surveying, geographic information systems, photogrammetry and geodesy. Burtch is a Professional Surveyor in Michigan and a Certified Photogrammetrist through the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).
Donn D. Dears
Donn D. Dears is a retired General Electric Company executive now based in Chicago. A graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and veteran of the U.S. Navy, Mr. Dears is president of TSAugust, a 501(C)(3), nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank conducting research on energy and economic issues, is the author of two books and writes the blog, Power America.
Leonard Gilroy
Leonard Gilroy is the director of government reform at Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles nonprofit think tank advancing free markets. Gilroy, a certified urban planner (AICP), researches privatization, government reform, transportation, infrastructure, and urban policy issues. Gilroy has a diversified background in policy research and implementation, with particular emphases on public-private partnerships, competition, government efficiency, transparency, accountability, and government performance. Gilroy has worked closely with legislators and elected officials in Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Utah, Virginia, California, and several other states in efforts to design and implement market-based policy approaches, improve government performance, enhance accountability in government programs, and reduce government spending. He is the editor of the world's most respected newsletter on privatization, Privatization Watch, and is the editor of the widely-read Annual Privatization Report, which examines trends and chronicles the experiences of local, state, and federal governments in bringing competition to public services.
Kristi Grahl
Christine "Kristi" Grahl is editor of P.O.B. magazine, Troy, MI, and administrator of its electronic bulletin board, www.RPLS.com. P.O.B., published by BNP Media, is the oldest monthly national magazine serving the surveying and mapping profession, reaching more than 38,000 readers. Kristi is an APEX Award-winning writer and editor, has been P.O.B. editor since 2008 and has spent the past 15 years working closely with publications serving audiences including engineers and entrepreneurs.
Thomas Palmerlee
Thomas M. Palmerlee is Associate Director, Technical Activities Division, Transportation Research Board (TRB). TRB is a component of The National Academies, a private, nonprofit institution. The mission of the Transportation Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. Mr. Palmerlee staffs committees on information technology and transportation data, including the Geographic Information Science and Applications Committee and the Geospatial Data Acquisition Technologies in Design and Construction Committee. Prior to joining TRB, Mr. Palmerlee was executive director for the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS), and for the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA). In the 1980's he served as a legislative assistant and legislative director for U.S. Senator Malcolm Wallop of Wyoming.
2010 Geospatial Excellence Award Winners
Grand Award Winner
Michael Baker, Jr., Inc.
U.S. Bureau of Census - Accurate Coordinate Datasets Collection
Category: Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Generation
In 2005 the Census Bureau selected Michael Baker Jr., Inc. (Baker) as the Program Manager for the Accurate Coordinate Datasets Collection project (ACDC). The objective was to provide spatially accurate "ground-control" throughout the entire United States and U.S. Territories for use in support of the Census Bureau's MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project (MTAIP).
Judges Comments
Michael Baker was selected as the winner in this category as well as for Project of the Year due to the overall size and complexity of the project as well as the glowing client recommendation. Baker's ability to coordinate multiple resources and overcome a multitude of challenges to deliver such a large project ahead of schedule, under budget and with a 99.6% first-time acceptance rate on deliverables is worthy of acclaim. Two statements from the client were particularly noteworthy:
"...not only am I recommending Baker for this award, but have recommended and will continue to recommend them for work in future endeavors whenever their business proficiency matches the needs of prospective clients."
"The quality and timeliness of their work exceeded our expectation and the value of their management on this project truly spoiled us. They set standards to which we still refer in appreciation."
The client letter really pushes this project over the top."
Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition
Photo Science
Humboldt Bay Ecosystem Mapping
Humboldt Bay is located along the northern California coast. It is the only deep water port in northern California and is the second largest natural estuary in the state (http://www.humboldtbay.org/). Several natural resource management initiatives are taking place in the region. These initiatives include: Humboldt Bay Ecosystem Based Management Program, Sub-tidal Habitat Goals Program, and the Salt River Restoration Project. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's administers the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex and the Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation, and Conservation District is creating a Humboldt Bay Management Plan. In an effort to support all of these initiatives, NOAA's Coastal Services Center (CSC) contracted with Photo Science to determine the availability of benthic habitat data in Humboldt Bay and to acquire new data if necessary.
Judges Comments
The judges are pleased to announce Photo Science as the winner in the Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition category. The Humboldt Bay project presented extremely complex challenges for Photo Science, not only necessitating the development of a new flight planning application (now being evaluated as a national model), but also requiring them to execute all acquisition within an extremely thin one-day window."
Remote Sensing
Woolpert, Inc.
More Than Just Scratching The Surface, Mapping Out Storm Water Improvements
In light of substantial population growth over the past two decades, the Public Utilities Department within the City of Columbus was faced with the challenge of maintaining the accuracy of the city's ever-changing impervious surface maps (ISM). Object-oriented remote sensing (using LiDAR and ortho-imagery) represented a method to precisely identify the existence of impervious surfaces, including driveways, sidewalks, parking lots, etc. The primary objective of the mapping program was to utilize newly developed technology to produce an up-to-date impervious dataset to both validate the previous work completed as well as identify newly developed areas in an efficient manner - data that is crucial in determining both storm water runoff projections and in evaluating current statistics.
Judges Comments
The judges felt that Woolpert provided a quality product that met the client's budget and expectations. Though the project appeared to involve a moderate level of complexity and innovation, Woolpert's use of technology to provide an accurate and cost-effective solution for the City of Columbus is worthy of acknowledgement. While data fusion is not new, this project resulted in a highly accurate and cost effective product to the client that will be of benefit to the city for years to come.
GIS/IT
The Sidwell Company
Improved Geospatial Cadastral Mapping with GIS Integration
Charlotte County, established in 1921, covers an area of approximately 859 square miles and is located on Florida's gulf coast. Situated on and around Charlotte Harbor, the County was dealt a significant blow by Hurricane Charley in 2004. However, they have since rebounded from that natural disaster, and the County continues to experience considerable growth.
To aid in the management of the land records that go along with that growth, the County had begun developing a GIS program intended to support the needs and operations of many departments within their local government enterprise. Like many other jurisdictions, Charlotte County had initiated manual and CAD-based procedures many years ago for mapping land records updates. However, increased user demand and other information deployments were putting a strain on their system, which lacked the enhancements available with newer technology. While the county did utilize other CAD platforms for performing certain tasks (e.g. parcel mapping), other departments were still utilizing manual methods for updating geographic information. Up to this point, thousands of dollars had been directed to support the development of data layers, workflows, and applications for supporting county operations and end-user tasks. While solid decision-making was steering their GIS program, several departments within Charlotte County realized that the overall design was in need of revision so that they could further implement new mainstream GIS technology on the ESRI platform.
Judges Comments
Charlotte County had the problem of preparing a unified database for all 220,000 properties in the County where different approaches to data processing had been initiated by different departments. Sidwell integrated the existing analog and CAD information for all parcels while renumbering the parcels into a coherent format, thereby correcting inconsistent and complex parcel numbering. Multiple layers accommodated different types of data. It was also necessary for Sidwell to correct inaccurate data in the Eastern section of the County.
The final product established a new geodatabase of all parcels accessible by all departments. Users can quickly create, update and review the multiple features on individual geographic entries or for the entire countywide dataset.
Charlotte County's information service manager said, "Our tax collector and property appraiser love the new system." The complexity of capturing and structuring an array of data for 220,000 properties in Charlotte County made this project a "stand-out" that earned Sidwell this award.
Small Projects
Kappa Mapping, Inc
Photogrammetry provides accurate lobster buoy count for Maine Department of Marine Resources
Nearly 3 million traps bring in 78 million pounds of lobster annually, adding $228 million to Maine's economy and making the industry's sustainability a hot topic. To help its scientists determine how trap numbers affect the lobster population, Maine Department of Marine Resources (MeDMR) contracted with KAPPA Mapping, Inc. (KAPPA) to inventory the number of buoys marking lobster traps in Tenants Harbor. Tenants Harbor is a small lobstering community located along Maine's rocky coast between Portland and Rockland.
Judges Comments
Kappa Mapping had the challenge of counting lobster pots around Tenants Harbor, Maine. Counting had traditionally been done from boats where it's extremely difficult to see small objects, such as the buoys marking the location of lobster pots. Photogrammetry, by Kappa Mapping, provided accurate counts of lobster pots and disclosed that the number of lobster pots far exceeded the number garnered by visual count from boats. Results were better than anticipated. The Maine Resource Scientist responsible for the project said, "The incorporation of aerial photography has allowed us to map the lobster fishery as never seen before."
Kappa Mapping earned this award by its innovative solution to a problem that was of concern to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
Technology Innovation
Microsoft Corporation
UltaCam L/Lp
The UltraCamL was first announced in July 2008 at the ISPRS Congress in Beijing, and has been in operation since May 2009. (An upgraded version, the UltraCamLp, is now being offered by Vexcel Imaging.) The UltraCamL is the result of a dedicated focus to combine the best elements of both medium and large format cameras in order to set a new price/performance standard for photogrammetric imaging operations. The camera system reflects innovation in areas of hardware, electronics and software, developed in response to customer feedback, and offers a revolutionary package that is lighter, more compact, more flexible, and more affordable to smaller mapping organizations.
Judges Comments
The UltraCam L/LP project by Vexcel Imaging/Microsoft was highly thought of by the judges. While it was hard comparing the diverse nature of the Technology Innovation projects, the one thing that stood out with Vexcel's submission, beyond the technological hurdles, was the advantages that this new camera could give to the photogrammetric community. Digital cameras for photogrammetric applications are expensive. Low cost digital aerial cameras are available, but they do not meet the needs of the photogrammetric industry. The UltraCam L/LP camera is designed to bring digital data acquisition to the smaller mapping firms by offering a camera that is low cost and accurate for mapping purposes.
MAPPS Announces Geospatial Excellence Awards Judges
2009 Press Release and Media Features
MAPPS Announces Third Annual Geospatial Awards Competition, Submission Deadline August 7, 2009
2008 Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Award Winners
Grand Award
"Mapping a Vital Marine Resource in Texas"
2008 Press Releases and Media Features
"Mapping Out The Winners" — Feature in POB Magazine
Fugro EarthData, Inc. Receives Grand Award in MAPPS 2008 Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Award Competition — MAPPS Press Release
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