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Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards
Grand Award
Merrick & Company
Levee Recertification Using Geospatial Technologies
Category B: Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Generation Winner
Judges Comments
Merrick’s project, ‘Levee Recertification Using Geospatial Technologies,’ was impressive on a number of levels. First, it was an extremely complex project in which the team members were essentially trailblazers. Determining how to best gather and process the data for one of the first levee recertification projects in the U.S. under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 2005 mandate required ingenuity and skill. The Merrick team didn’t merely think in terms of what had been done in the past; they actively pursued new ideas and pushed the envelope with new technologies to provide deliverables that would continue to add value for the client long after the immediate project was completed. Second, the Merrick team clearly excelled at communicating with the client and with the other organizations involved in the project. Although the client’s schedule wasn’t met due to the extraordinary amount of data collected and processed, the client was satisfied with the project and, in fact, subsequently awarded Merrick an additional contract. Finally, the project provides an excellent example of how thinking in broad terms regarding the value of geospatial data can lead to new opportunities and solutions for all stakeholders. By sourcing all of their data in a sophisticated geodatabase, the Merrick team ensured that these data will retain their value as they are applied to future projects
Category A: Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition
Intermap Technologies Completes NEXTMap Europe
Intermap Technologies
Intermap Technologies received the MAPPS Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Award in Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition for a number of reasons. First was the sheer size of the project – 2.4 million square kilometers of 3D, radar-based, elevation data throughout Europe. The terrain included flat areas of the continent to the mountains of the Alps. The second significant aspect was logistics. To control the raster imagery, 474 corner reflectors were located with GPS throughout Europe. This required contacting local land owners necessitating bringing in interpreters in several languages. Moreover, logistics had to be carefully considered in flight planning because of the different military mapping agencies or civil aviation authorities that needed to be contacted for flight approval. Finally, survey crews also had to work around cultural impediments that they were not accustomed to in this country. Intermap collected the geospatial data using their propriety interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR). All of these efforts led to a project completion that will be of benefit to the customer for years to come.
Category D: GIS/IT
Spatial Data Interoperability at the Florida Department of Transportation
Photo Science
Judges Comments
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) geospatial data integration project demonstrates cooperation between several FDOT departments to pull together diverse geospatial data sources and create FDOT wide access and interoperability. The project required the creation of a geodatabase model, GIS infrastructure, and a customized browser. Unlocking the potential of various data sources was accomplished through the integration of several complex GIS, database and CADD products. The benefit of these efforts was clearly of great benefit to the customer and the public. The project’s success demonstrated greater utilization of FDOT geospatial data and therefore a much greater return on the investment in geospatial data by FDOT. The FDOT is very satisfied with the project and as a result are finding many new and innovative ways to work with the spatial data holding.
Category E: Small Projects
Color Infrared Imagery Makes Accurate Vernal Pool Mapping Possible in BarHarbor, Maine
Kappa Mapping, Inc.
Judges Comments
MAPPS has selected Kappa Mapping Inc. as the recipient of the Small Projects Excellence Award for its project Color Infrared Imagery Makes Accurate Vernal Pool Mapping Possible in Bar Harbor, Maine. Kappa provided aerotriangulation and imagery data in true color and color infrared, working with two other vendors and the Town to produce the pyramid layers used by one of the other vendors to produce the stereo mapping of vernal pools in the area. This complex cooperation among vendors and quality outcome has dramatically helped the city of Bar Harbor better plan and manage conflicts between environmental protection of vernal pools and property development rights. The Town reports that the results "put people at ease that they are being treated fairly and that the Town is on 'top of things’.
Category F: Technology Innovation
New Product Introduction in Hardware: ALTM Orion
Optech Incorporated
Judges Comments
Optech Inc. was selected at the winner of Category F: Technology Innovation. Looking around we see that Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems becoming more critical components to situational awareness for our troops and lidar is being developed for that purpose. We also see increased reliance on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Thus, Optech was tasked to develop a laser scanning system that could be operated in a UAV. This created a number of challenges for the researchers. It needed to be smaller in size, lighter weight, less power hungry and still provide accurate lidar postings. The result was the ALTM Orion, a first generation light-weight lidar system that was found to perform better than expected in the design phase.
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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