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Archive for the ‘General’ Category

From the USA to Malaysia: GeoSAR’s Global Presence Continues to Grow

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

GeoSAR is back on the tradeshow trail! The past few weeks GeoSAR had a strong presence at the ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California and Map Asia 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At the ESRI International User Conference, Fugro EarthData’s Megan Blaskovich participated in the poster contest presenting a striking “GeoSAR in 3D” poster highlighting GeoSAR data collected over mountainous terrain in South America converted into stereo-colorized anaglyphs. The 3D anaglyphs were generated using ESRI’s PurVIEW extension for ArcGIS along with a GeoSAR digital elevation model (DEM) and orthorectified radar imagery. To say the least, the GeoSAR poster was quite the attention grabber.

Travelling half way around the world, we joined forces with colleagues from Fugro’s South East Asia offices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for Map Asia 2010. Our presence was strongly felt and we were awarded Best Exhibitor at Map Asia 2010. During the conference’s technical sessions, Fugro EarthData’s Roy Hill delivered two compelling presentations on GeoSAR solutions, one on land-use and land-cover mapping, and the other on base mapping using PurVIEW in support of NSDI initiatives. The presentations highlighted GeoSAR’s advantages in equatorial regions where persistent cloud cover, triple canopy foliage, and rugged terrain, make traditional mapping solutions impossible.

In addition to the tradeshows, GeoSAR also participated in a “ground breaking” ceremony in Anchorage AK to mark the beginning of the 5-year Alaska Statewide Digital Mapping Initiative (SDMI). GeoSAR is currently wrapping up acquisition in Alaska for the first phase of the project awarded earlier this year to Dewberry through the US Geological Survey. The event was attended by over 200 representatives of the federal, state, local and tribal governments, as well as numerous members of the press. Fugro staff also took the opportunity to educate people about IFSAR and the benefits that the resulting maps offer to the state.

After wrapping up a very successful month our conference trail continues with planned stops in Africa, Europe and South America. Please feel free to request further information or continue the conversation at info@geosar.com or leave a comment!

GeoSAR Graces the Cover of PE&RS

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

GeoSAR will be gracing the cover of PE&RS this month which will be distributed at the ESRI International User Conference July 12th- 16th in San Diego, CA. Be sure to pick up your copy, view the cover, and read the feature article “Topographic Mapping Using IFSAR Data in a 3D Desktop GIS Environment” written by: L.G. (Jake) Jenkins and Larry Lund.

blog

The cover image represents a Digital Elevation Model generated from GeoSAR’s P-band radar overlaid with X and P-band orthorectified images, all in the ChromaDepth® color scheme. The orthorectified images were filtered to increase homogeneity, reduce speckling and remove artifacts. Waterways were flattened and rendered monotonic. The final images were composed into the scene using ESRI®’s ArcGIS software using a custom color pallet that allows the cooler colors to recede and warmer colors to advance on the eye when viewed using the ChromaDepth® 3-D glasses.

GeoSAR’s X and P-band orthorectified images are arranged split screen to highlight features such as terrain, agricultural fields and mangroves. P-band is located in the upper left as the X-band is located in the lower right. P-band highlights features associated with human settlements such as agricultural fields, irrigation channels, roadways and buildings, even those that may be hidden below the vegetation, whereas the mangroves appear brighter in the X-band imagery because they scatter more of the radar energy back.

GeoSAR is the world’s only dual-band, single-pass airborne interferometric SAR system. Penetrating clouds and foliage, GeoSAR simultaneously maps surface features (using x-band) and near bare-earth elevation (using P-band), making it particularly well suited for equatorial mapping.

Let’s Talk About GeoSAR!

Friday, May 7th, 2010

We are very pleased with the GeoSAR blog reader’s responses to the GeoSAR 101 Crossword Puzzle. If you are just tuning in, please feel free to download the crossword and answers to update your knowledge of GeoSAR. As we move forward in the upcoming weeks we have many exciting developments happening in the world of GeoSAR. You will be able to read about these developments soon in upcoming articles to be published in the June/July issues of PE&RS and Geo-Informatics magazine. In the meantime, we have rolled out a new ad in the April issue of GIM Magazine and we would appreciate your feedback on the ad’s messaging and its overall appearance. If you send us your comments we will send you a GeoSAR token of appreciation!

Finally, if you’re planning to attend the INTERGEO- East conference in Instanbul, Turkey, or the GEONT Tech Days in Washington DC this month, be sure to drop by the Fugro booth to learn more about our unique geospatial solutions.

GeoSAR 101 Crossword Puzzle Answers

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

As requested, please click on the link below for the GeoSAR 101 Crossword Puzzle answers. Thank you to all who played! Please stay tuned for more GeoSAR updates next week!

GeoSAR Crossword Puzzle Answers

GeoSAR 101 Crossword

Friday, April 16th, 2010

This week we decided to have fun with our GeoSAR blog readers! All the answers to the crossword below can be found within the GeoSAR website and/or previous GeoSAR blogs. Good Luck! Answers will be posted next week. Please click on the link below to download the puzzle and clues! For any questions or hints please feel free to write to info@geosar.com.

GeoSAR Crossword Puzzle

From Snow to Sand: The Benefits of Dual-Band IFSAR

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

The conference trail grows longer! At last post, we had just returned from the Alaska Surveying and Mapping Conference in Anchorage where GeoSAR Project Manager Steven Shaffer presented the applications of dual-band IFSAR in arctic and sub-arctic environments. Snow penetration/mapping was part of that discussion. This week we are switching gears—rather dramatically—to the Map Middle East Conference in Dubai where last week GeoSAR Client Program Manager Caroline Tyra presented a paper on the ability of radar to penetrate sand for subsurface mapping.

The overall concept isn’t exactly new. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology, which utilizes radar bands in the UHF/VHF frequencies from hand-held or vehicular-based equipment, is a well established technique. It’s the use of remote sensing platforms for subsurface mapping that is gaining ground (no pun intended!). Using satellite and airborne methods, it is possible to provide wide-area coverage of subsurface hydrology and structures for use in mineral exploration and development, infrastructure design, and archeological research.

So where is the science? In the early 1980s, the hyper-arid Bir Safsaf region in southwestern Egypt was mapped using Shutte Radar SIR-A and SIR-B to detect geologic structures covered by layers of sand. Discoveries from that research included fossil river systems. More recent studies have shown the ability of very low-frequency radar, such as P-band, to penetrate depths of 15 meters or more depending on soil composition, radar incidence angles, and soil moisture.

Fugro EarthData has confirmed these P-band findings using GeoSAR during a mission over the Mojave Desert near Edwards Air Force Base. Among other things, the results revealed a mostly submerged geological formation. Subsurface mapping is an area we’ll continue to research given its many implications related to water networks, national security, and heritage management. It’s also one more way that we can help clients maximize the value of their GeoSAR data—by unlocking what we call, “the Power of P”.

Want to continue the conversation? Leave a comment or send us an email at info@geosar.com.

The New FugroViewer

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Welcome back to On the Radar Screen! As our first entry in 2010, we wanted to spread the word about upgrades to Fugro’s 3D viewing software, FugroViewer. While FugroViewer is a standard deliverable on all GeoSAR projects, it’s also available to anyone (for free!) at www.fugroviewer.com.

FugroViewer

The software was originally released in January 2009 as a tool for technical and non-technical users to view, analyze, and communicate 3D geospatial data. It’s been a big hit. Designed for use with photogrammetric, LiDAR, and IFSAR data, FugroViewer now has hundreds of users in business, government, and university settings.

Upgrades to the new version include: enhanced memory management, additional LiDAR format support (including LAS version 2), additional image format support (including ERDAS Imagine).

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

The Launch

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Welcome to the debut of On the Radar Screen, a weekly posting written by GeoSAR staff about remote sensing trends and technology. As an open space for communicating with the geospatial user community, we encourage you to subscribe to the blog and welcome your feedback.