Bill Emison

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South Carolina LiDAR Partnership Workshop

• Presented By
• Bill Emison
• MARS Product Manager
• April 8, 2008

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Merrick Company

• Corporate headquarters Aurora, Colorado
• Founded in 1955, incorporated in 1959
• Primary Services
• Architecture
• Civil Engineering
• Facilities Engineering
• GeoSpatial Solutions
• Process Engineering
• 450 employees at 8 national intl offices
• Annual revenue gt 60M
• Ownership Private (employee-owned)

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Instructor

• Bill Emison
• MARS Product Manager (GSS)
• GIS professional since 1993.
• Professional experience includes consulting,
  software sales and technical marketing.
• B.S., Business Administration, Univ. of
  Louisville, Louisville, KY, 1991.
• M.S., City Planning (GIS), Georgia Institute of
  Technology, Atlanta, GA, 1997.

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Workshop Objective

• Provide an objective review of LiDAR data
  processing methodologies within the framework of
  airborne data collection.
• Educate and evangelize the benefits of airborne
  remote sensing, especially as it pertains to
  LiDAR and the integration of full-spectrum sensor
  technologies

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LiDAR Derived Products

• Digital surface model (DSM)
• Elevation model including vegetation, buildings
  and objects
• Digital terrain model (DTM)
• Elevation model without buildings and vegetation
• Digital elevation model (DEM)
• Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN)
• Contour lines
• Hillshades
• Grids (elevation, intensity)
• Volume calculations
• Data classes (post-filtering)
• Cross-section information
• Breaklines

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Data Visualization
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MARS Visualization

• Render LiDAR by
• Elevation
• Intensity
• Classification
• Flight line
• Return
• Imagery (fusion)

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MARS Visualization

• LiDAR point cloud (raw data)
• TIN
• 2D (orthographic)
• 3D (perspective)
• Cross-Section View

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Supported Imagery Formats

• ECW (ER Mapper/Leica)
• Hyperspectral (ENVI)
• GDAL (raster translator library)
• JPEG 2000
• TIFF/TFW
• ERDAS Image (.IMG)
• MrSID
• NITF

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Hyperspectral Imagery

• MARS now supports the ENVI data format, which
  allows the user to load, render and analyze
  hyperspectral datasets.
• Users can select the hyperspectral data layer to
  render, based on its classification attribute.

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Supported Vector Formats

• ESRI SHP (native)
• MARS GeoTranslate
• AutoCAD (DXF, DWG)
• ESRI Shapefile (SHP)
• MapInfo (MIF, TAB)
• Bentley Microstation (DGN)
• Microsoft Excel (XLS)

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Reference Data

• Ground Control/Survey Points (CSV)
• Tile Scheme(s)
• LiDAR
• Orthophotography
• Reference Vector Data
• Breaklines
• Boundary Files
• Building Footprints

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Data Management
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MARS Data Management Tools

• Data Import/Export
• X, Y, Z Transforms
• LiDAR QA/QC Tools
• 3-D Coordinate Transformation
• 2-D Capture Tool
• Planimetric Capture Tool

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Supported Data Import Formats

• ASCII (Text)
• Terrascan Binary (.BIN)
• ESRI Float Grid (.FLT)
• DTH Grid (.DTH)

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Supported Data Export Formats

• LAS
• Data Classes (post-filtering)
• ASCII (Text)
• Grids (Elevation or Intensity)
• ESRI Float Grid
• ASCII Grid
• DTH Grid
• Topography (SHP, DGN)
• Cross-Section Data (SHP)
• Breaklines (SHP, DGN)
• ENVI (Elevation or Classification)
• Shapefile (points)
• Intensity Image (TIFF Grid)

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LiDAR QA/QC Tools

• Control Point Report
• Allows users to compare derived ground surface to
  control points
• LAS Statistics Tool
• Generates statistics about LAS points
• Profile/Cross-Section Analysis
• Allows users to visually inspect the coincidence
  of flight line information
• Contour by Flight Line
• Allows users to visually inspect the coincidence
  of contours between flight lines

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3-D Coordinate Transformation
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MARS GeoCalc Dialog
MARS GeoCalc allows the user to reproject LAS
data to different horizontal vertical
coordinate systems. This tool can support batch
processing for an unlimited number of LAS files.
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Vector Translation

• MARS GeoTranslate allows the user to shift
  vector data to different Horizontal Coordinate
  Systems and Horizontal and Vertical datum's. This
  tool also allows the user to write the
  reprojected vector files to another file format.
• Supported Vector File Formats
• AutoCAD (DXF, DWG)
• ESRI Shapefile (SHP)
• MapInfo (MIF, TAB)
• Bentley Microstation (DGN)
• Microsoft Excel (XLS)

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MARS GeoTranslate Dialog
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Custom Coordinate System Definition

• MARS GeoEdit allows the user to shift vector
  data to different Horizontal Coordinate Systems
  and Horizontal and Vertical datum's. This tool
  also allows the user to write the reprojected
  vector files to another file format.

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2-D Capture Tools

• The 2-D capture tool allows users to draw linear
  vector features (ex. road edges) that can be
  draped to a surface, and then written to a 3-D
  shapefile.
• Commonly used to drape transects onto the derived
  ground surface model for hydrographic modeling.

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Planimetric Capture Tools

• The Planimetric Capture tool is used for
  planimetric data capture directly from LiDAR or
  elevation data. The tool is designed to square
  off features at 45 or 90 degrees for ease,
  speed and accuracy of capture.
• Initial tool to generate complex 3-D building
  objects (ex. roof lines) for visualization and
  modeling.

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Data Generation
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Derivative Data Products

• LAS
• Grids
• ASCII (text)
• Shapefiles
• Contours
• Breaklines
• Hillshades
• Rectifed snapshots

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MARS Contour Options

• User-defined contour parameters
• Contour interval
• Index contours
• Minimum contour length
• Contour by flight line
• Included classifications for contour generation
• Contour export to SHP and DGN

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Contour Depression Coder

• Automates the coding of contour depressions

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Breakline Compilation
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Definition

• Breaklines are linear features that describe a
  change in continuity of a surface.
• Breaklines are typically captured along road
  edges and hydrographic features to assist with
  the accurate depiction of contours.

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Why do I need breaklines?
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Future Trends
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Future Trends in Remote Sensing

• Multi-Sensor Fusion Simultaneous data
  collection featuring LiDAR, hyperspectral/multispe
  ctral, thermal and high-resolution imagery
  sensors
• Real-time data collection and processing for
  military, defense and homeland security
  applications
• UAV sensor platform development
• All digital workflow!
• Automated change detection
• Integration of airborne terrestrial point clouds

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MARS Software Downloads

• MARS FreeView (free viewer)
• MARS Explorer (30 day evaluation version)
• http//www.merrick.com/servicelines/gis/marsdemo
  setup.aspx

International LiDAR Mapping Forum (ILMF) Feb.
2009 www.lidarmap.org
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Software Demonstration