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.
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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.
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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the office, stereoplotting equipment that weighed two and three tons and required special building characteristics have been replaced by software applications that process digital images, integrate ground control points and create digital terrain models and contour line maps that are equal, or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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Moving from GIS to Aerial Photogrammetry Under Difficult Circumstances
Presented by: Alejandro Chumaceiro, CEO, SIGIS
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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.
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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.
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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.
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How To Integrate UAS Data Effectively
Presented by: Brant Howard, Co-Founder & Director, and Andrew Carey, Business Development Manager- Unmanned Geospatial Solutions, CompassDrone
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What UAS data can and cannot do for your organization…
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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?
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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
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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.
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How To Get Control of Your Ground Control
Presented by: Larry Fox, VP Marketing & Business Development, BadElf, LLC
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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
Cesar Camblong
Founder & Director
Cesar is a Surveyor is Founder & Director of i-BC SRL. Cesar is a Land Surveyor, from the National University of the Northeast, in Argentina, specialized in land management for power line projects. i-BC was a pioneer in the use of GPS as a mapping tool since 1992, and has been a benchmark in forest mapping ever since. Today Cesar is a Partner in the company and Business Development Manager.
Andrew Carey
Business Development Manager- Unmanned Geospatial Solutions
Andrew Carey is the Business Development Director at CompassDrone, a division of CompassData. Andrew specializes in drone program development and the integration of aerial data for geospatial applications. An avid UAV technologist, Andrew leverages a GIS back ground to spread the gospel of accurate data for efficient decision making.
Alejandro Chumaceiro
CEO/Founder/COO
Alejandro Chumaceiro has been involved in Geomatics since 1987 while working for IBM, and in 1993 he started at Soluciones Integrales (SIGIS), in Venezuela as the CEO/COO of a company dedicated to rendering solutions. SIGIS is not only heavily involved in Geomatics and Remote Sensing, but in developing Service Platforms that utilice geospatial information to improve people's situational awareness and asset localisation. In 2013 co-founded AerialRobotixs, a company dedicated to building and deploying services with UAVs. In addition, in 2019 co-founded Lidar Latinoamerica, an international company dedicated to providing geospatial solutions with strong emphasis in LiDar technologies integration services in the fields of forestry, power lines, engineering, and mining. In addition to his GIS-related work, Alejandro is an avid pilot and participates in a family run business producing and distributing premium artisan beer, agave cocui, and molasses base liquors in Venezuela.
Greg Crustinger
Director of Applied Research
Dr. Greg Crutsinger is the Director of Applied Research at GeoAcuity, a consulting firm that specializes in providing spatial insight, data services, and analytics through the full spectrum of geospatial technologies. Prior to GeoAcuity, Greg has over 5 years of experience in the commercial UAV industry as the founder of Scholar Farms, a professional consultancy and trainer in drone imagery for agriculture and forestry. He was also employed by leading drone hardware and software companies (3DR, Parrot, and Pix4D). While serving academia, Greg received his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, was a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and an Assistant Professor in Zoology at the University of British Columbia.
Jamie Davis
UAS Data Manager
Jamie began operating UAS in 2014 while working as an archaeologist. Between 2014 and 2019, Jamie created several hundred UAS based photogrammetry models of historic buildings, prehistoric earthworks and cemeteries, including the World Heritage Site Sutton Hoo, in England, the American Battle Monuments Commission Corozal American Cemetery in Panama, and the American Battle Monuments Commission North Africa American Cemetery in Tunisia. Jamie began working at the UAS Center in May of 2019 and began helping ODOT districts by modelling roadways, retaining walls and landslides. Jamie specializes in the collection and processing of UAS remote sensing data that includes photogrammetry, magnetometry, infrared and multispectral datasets.
Larry Fox
VP Marketing & Business Development
Larry Fox is the VP of Marketing and Business Development at Bad Elf, LLC – a manufacturer of GPS and GNSS receivers for recreation, aviation, GIS, and Survey. Larry has degrees in both electrical engineering and business administration. With over twenty years’ experience as a product visionary, business development, and technology strategist, Larry has patented expertise in GNSS/GPS technologies. Larry holds licenses as private pilot and part 107 operator.
David Gallagher
UAS Program Manager
David Gallagher is a native of Dayton, Ohio and a graduate of the University of Dayton. Since graduating in 2000, David has spent much of his career working in policy and political affairs at the federal level including, US. House of Representatives and at the U.S. Senate. Currently, David serves as the Flight Operations Manager for the Ohio Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center under the Ohio Department of Transportation, DriveOhio/Fly Ohio. His role has been to help advance technologies and integrate UAS into Ohio’s transportation system. In since 2013, the Ohio UAS Center has performed over 3500 flights and helping Ohio integrate UAS into our state government. He is also the President of the Ohio Wright Brothers Chapter of the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International. David is avid aviation enthusiast and is holds a Remote pilot certificate and private pilot certificate.
Brant Howard
Co-Founder & Director
Brant is Co-Founder and Director of CompassData Inc. a GIS mapping, surveying and data provider for the Drone, Aerial and Satellite Remote Sensing Community since 1994. CompassDrone is a division of CompassData. Mr. Howard utilizes his 40 years of experience in contract engineering, technical sales, marketing and management to lead CompassData as an international provider of photo-identifiable ground control for GIS and remote sensing applications. He has been an innovator in providing ground control as off-the-shelf content to photogrammetry professionals with consistent delivery of accurate control data in a timely response. Mr. Howard has Undergraduate and Master’s Degrees in Geology from Indiana University. His experience includes the U.S. Geological Survey; Camp, Dresser & McKee Inc., entrepreneur endeavors in the Remote Sensing, GPS and the electronic technology professions. Mr. Howard holds Patents in Geospatial and Mobile Resource Management technology. He has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver, made numerous presentations at seminars and conferences worldwide. Mr. Howard has authored articles in technical journals relating to Geology, GIS, remote Sensing and Mobile Resource Management.
Ted Lindsley
CEO
Ted Lindsley is CEO of SqwaQ, developers of the only carrier approved LTE modems that are ALO (Airborne LTE Operations) approved. The SqwaQbox combines the bandwidth of up to twelve individual 3G/4G/LTE connections across multiple simultaneous cellular networks to deliver massive throughput for nationwide command and control, pilot view cameras and BVLOS flight operations. SqwaQ can provision prioritized data services on 620+ global networks across 130 countries. The technology resolves current hurdles of BVLOS operation for drones and UTM limitations while introducing a path for all connected aircraft to share the same airspace today.
Ted is also the CEO of Olaeris, which developed the first civilian VTOL unmanned aircraft to begin a complete FAA Part 27 Type Class certification as a helicopter designation to fly unfettered in the airspace. AEVA is a self aware, intelligent VTOL robot capable of carrying 11 pounds for one full hour in a weather sealed fuselage that sustains winds of 40mph while making its own flight decisions using onboard radar, LIDAR and ADS-B. 5 years later in 2021, no other company has built such a robust UAS or attempted such demanding certification.
Juan B. Plaza
Program Moderator
Juan B. Plaza holds a degree in Geodesy with a master in Digital Photogrammetry from Universidad Central de Venezuela and an MBA in International Finance from Florida International University. Juan is also a pilot, IFR certified with over 600 hours of flying time.
Juan B. Plaza Consulting Corp. (JBPC) is a firm dedicated to helping individuals and organizations accelerate their deployment time for projects in the areas of General Aviation, Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones), Aerial Photogrammetry, Mapping/Cartography, Enterprise GIS, Fleet Management and Precision GNSS.
Joshua Resnick
CEO
Joshua brings a passion for groundbreaking technology and years of hybrid and electric powertrain expertise to Parallel Flight Technologies. Prior to founding PFT, he led system architecture and electrical engineering for the Tesla Semi Truck program. Before moving to California, he led state-funded research for the State of Alaska developing hybrid electric commercial fishing boats. When he is not designing the future, Joshua enjoys flying RC helicopters and hiking.
***All times listed in US Mountain Time