Last week, we traveled to Anchorage, Alaska, where we met up with some of our local staff and exhibited at the Alaska Surveying and Mapping Conference. It’s a place we’ve been coming back to often as Stakeholders have been working long and hard over the past couple of years to address the state’s pressing needs for accurate and up-to-date topographic mapping. Given the size, geographic location, and challenging terrain, airborne IFSAR has been deemed the ideal solution for generating accurate and detailed digital elevation data.

But elevation isn’t the only application for Alaska Stakeholders. This point was illustrated in a well-received talk by Fugro EarthData’s Steven Shaffer. In his presentation, “Airborne IFSAR Mapping in Alaska: Solutions for a Statewide DEM and Beyond,” Steve explored many additional use cases for dual-band IFSAR in particular, including those related to forestry, soil studies, and snow/ice mapping. If you weren’t able to attend the conference but are interested in learning more about what we presented, let us know and we’ll make sure to answer your information needs.

This week, it’s back to Washington, DC, International Conference on Commercial Remote Sensing! We hope to see you there.

Over the past year, Fugro EarthData and ESRI Canada have worked to modify the PurVIEW software to accommodate use of dual-band IFSAR data. That means users now have a tool that enables them to photogrammetrically capture accurate 3D geospatial information from GeoSAR data (roads, hydrography, cultural features, etc.) directly into their GIS database, as an ArcGIS extension. In a nutshell, it takes “radargrammetry” to a whole new level; no translations, no missing attributes, all native ESRI formats.

We’ve written before about the importance of technology transfer–putting the full power of the data and its potential into the hands of GeoSAR users. PurVIEW exemplifies our commitment to this notion. Within days of the original announcement, we received numerous requests from GeoSAR customers interested in learning more. The demos are lining up!

If you are among those interested, send us an email: info@geosar.com. You can also learn more about PurVIEW at ESRI Canada’s website. We’ll also be on hand at the ESRI Federal User Conference later this month, so look for us there.

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!