News and Resources

John R. Jensen and Stanley Morain have been selected as the next Honorary Members of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). Their nominations were recently approved by the ASPRS Board of Directors. This is the highest award bestowed by ASPRS. There can be only 25 living Honorary Members of the Society at any given time. 

Initiated in 1937 this life-time award is given for professional excellence in recognition of individuals who have rendered distinguished service to ASPRS and/or who have attained distinction in advancing the science and use of the geospatial information sciences.  Jensen and Morain will receive their awards at the ASPRS 2014 Annual Conference in Louisville Kentucky.

Bon A. Dewitt Rongxing Li Richard A. Pearsall Karen L. Schuckman and Douglas A. Stow have been named the 2014 ASPRS Fellow Award winners.  The ASPRS designation of Fellow is conferred on active Society members who have performed excep¬tional service in advancing the science and use of the mapping sciences (photogrammetry remote sensing surveying geographic information systems and related disciplines). 

The designation of Fellow is awarded for pro-fessional excellence and for service to the Society. Candidates are nominated by other active members recommended to the Fellows Committee and elected by the ASPRS Board of Directors. Up to 0.3 percent of the Society’s active members may be elected as Fellows in any one year.  The nominees must have made outstanding contributions in a recognized Society specialization whether in practice research development administration or education in the mapping sciences. Members of the Fellows Committee and the Executive Committee are ineligible for nomination.  This year’s awards will be given in March at the ASPRS 2014 Annual Conference in Louisville Kentucky.

Gordon L. Wells PhD. Program Manager for the Mid-American Geospatial Information Center located at the University of Texas at Austin Center for Space Research will address imaging mapping and geospatial information professionals as the keynote speaker for the CaGIS/ASPRS 2013 Specialty Conference Tuesday October 29 2013 in San Antonio Texas.

Dr. Wells also serves as a member of the Governor’s Emergency Management Council where his team supports the State’s preparedness and response programs for homeland security and natural disasters. His hurricane landfall modeling and simulation results for storm surge and wind impacts are used by the Texas Division of Emergency Management for public meetings planning and training and during activations of the State Operations Center for decision support during and after landfall. Dr. Wells will bring a wealth of knowledge supporting the conference theme Imaging and Mapping for Disaster Management: From the Individual to the Global Community.

Thanks to a recent initiative of the ASPRS Lidar Division different segments of the lidar mapping community now have the ability to customize the LAS file format to meet their application-specific needs.  The new mechanism that makes this possible is the LAS Domain Profile which is a derivative of the base LAS v1.4 specification that adds (but does not remove or alter existing) point classes and attributes.

The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is pleased to announce the launch of its first eBook — Manual of Airborne Topographic Lidar — on the Kindle platform.  “Making the Manual available as an eBook gives customers the option to have it available at their fingertips on either a Kindle or on another device with a Kindle app,” said ASPRS Communications Director Kim Tilley.  “This is perfect for students and those working in the field who don’t want to carry around the printed book or for those needing quick delivery with no mailing costs.”  The eBook is available through Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3FWBO6.

The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) announces the Manual of Photogrammetry Sixth Edition is now available for purchase through the ASPRS Bookstore.

Under the leadership of J. Chris McGlone PhD CP as Editor-in-Chief and George Y.G. Lee PhD Technical Editor the Manual covers photogrammetry in depth as well as its constituent technologies providing the student practitioner or researcher with a single valuable reference resource.

The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) has initiated development of the fourth edition of the Manual of Remote Sensing (MRS) under the leadership of Stan Morain as Editor-in-Chief Mike Renslow as Associate and Technical Editor and Amelia Budge as Associate and Design Editor. This project planned for completion in 2015 will be designed and executed as an enhanced e-book and will focus on three Parts: Systems Data Management and Applications.

The Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) team will hold the 2014 JACIE Workshop in conjunction with the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) Annual Conference in Louisville Kentucky on March 23-27 2014.  The announcement was made by the JACIE team and keynote speaker Roberta Lenczowski (ASPRS Past President) during the Workshop in Saint Louis Missouri in April.

The 2014 JACIE Workshop will be held Wednesday through Friday beginning on March 26 as a separate track at the ASPRS meeting. The program planning for JACIE and ASPRS will integrate some key speakers and highlights into a few ASPRS special and/or hot topics sessions. In addition ASPRS will provide attendees to the JACIE Workshop with the opportunity to register for a combined JACIE/ASPRS experience that will allow JACIE attendees to visit the ASPRS Conference Exhibit Hall as well as ASPRS General and Technical Sessions as time permits during the week of the JACIE Workshop.

The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) held their first annual service project Operation Sock Drop at the 2013 Annual Conference in Baltimore Maryland March 26 through 28 …

The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) proudly announces the following 2013 Outstanding Service Award Winners:  

Mike Renslow for his service as Editor‐in‐Chief of the Lidar Manual his efforts to achieve accreditation for the ASPRS Certification Program and his service as ISPRS Treasurer 2009 – 2012.

The Guidelines for Procurement of Commercial Geospatial Mapping Products Committee Charles Mondello Chair; and committee members Mark Baker Becky Morton Marvin Miller Brant Howard Kari Craun George Southard Jeff Lovin Mike Ritchie and Paul Harwig for their efforts to develop the draft guidelines.

Chris McGlone for his service as Editor‐in‐Chief of the Manual of Photogrammetry 6th Edition.

George Y. G. Lee for his service as Technical Editor of the Manual of Photogrammetry 6th Edition and his dedicated efforts to fully endow the Francis H. Moffitt Memorial Scholarship.

Christian Heipke Winner of Photogrammetric (Fairchild) Award

The 2013 Photogrammetric Award (Fairchild) was awarded to Prof. Dr. Christian Heipke at the 2013 Annual ASPRS Conference in Baltimore on March 26. Heipke was awarded the Photogrammetric (Fairchild) Award for his contributions including advancing the transition from analytical to digital photogrammetry significant achievements in object extraction from digital imagery and image matching progressing the introduction of softcopy systems and more recently helping to reinforce the essential connection between photogrammetry and computer vision. Heipke has been Professor Habilitation (the highest academic qualification given overseas) since 1994 and has been a Full Professor and the head of the Institute of Photogrammetry and GeoInformation at the Leibniz University Hannover since 1998.

This award the essence of which is practicability is designed to stimulate the development of the art of aerial photogrammetry in the United States.  The selection committee makes its choice based on an outstanding invention or design involving any type of equipment that applies to the art of aerial photogrammetry; any outstanding method developed for the general use of aerial photographs and/or imagery; outstanding research for study along aerial photogrammetric lines and outstanding effort for the general advancement of the art of photogrammetry.  Lockheed Martin donates funding for the award which consists of a silver presentation plaque.

Clive Fraser Winner of Outstanding Technical Achievement Award

This year’s recipient of the Outstanding Technical Achievement Award is Dr. Clive Fraser for his development and production of the digital camera calibration program “Australis.”  The Australis automatic camera calibration system was developed to accommodate contemporary calibration requirements and is a software system for digital camera self-calibration that incorporates an innovative workflow for improved efficiency and effectiveness. The significant features of Australis are efficiency flexibility automation and calibration to the highest metric standards. Fraser serves as Honorary Professor of Infrastructure Engineering Program Science Director Cooperative Research Center for Spatial Information and Professional Fellow Department of Infrastructure Engineering University of Melbourne Australia.

This award was introduced for the first time in 2012 and is given to a developer of a specific breakthrough technology which causes quantum advances in the practice of photogrammetry remote sensing or geographic information systems in the United States. Dr. Fraser received the award in March at the ASPRS 2013 Annual Conference in Baltimore.

In 2011 ASPRS and the ASPRS Foundation received a very generous individual donation to endow a new Outstanding Technical Achievement Award.  In accordance with the wishes of the donor a long time ASPRS member this donation was made anonymously. ASPRS has agreed to match the donation in accordance with its current matching policy resulting in and ensuring this annual Award will be fully endowed.
    

BETHESDA Md. March 5 2013 — The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is launching an association and conference focused smartphone app for use by ASPRS members and those interested in the Society. The app will keep ASPRS competitive and continue to provide members with the tools they find essential such as real-time access to association news member directories information on ASPRS webinars and conferences and critical industry alerts all from their iPhone or Android smartphone.The app is available on both iPhone and Android platforms.

George Y. Lee and Charles Mondello have been named the 2013 ASPRS Fellow Award winners.  The ASPRS designation of Fellow is conferred on active Society members who have performed exceptional service in advancing the science and use of the mapping sciences (photogrammetry remote sensing surveying geographic information systems and related disciplines). 

The designation of Fellow is awarded for professional excellence and for service to the Society. Candidates are nominated by other active members recommended to the Fellows Committee and elected by the ASPRS Board of Directors. Up to 0.3 percent of the Society’s active members may be elected as Fellows in any one year.  The nominees must have made outstanding contributions in a recognized Society specialization whether in practice research development administration or education in the mapping sciences. Members of the Fellows Committee and the Executive Committee are ineligible for nomination.  The awards will be given next March at the ASPRS 2013 Annual Conference in Baltimore Maryland.

Clifford W. Greve and Vincent V. Salomonson have been selected as the next Honorary Members of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS).  Their nominations were recently approved by the ASPRS Board of Directors. This is the highest award bestowed by ASPRS and there can be only 25 living Honorary Members of the Society at any given time.  

Initiated in 1937 this life-time award is given for professional excellence in recognition of individuals who have rendered distinguished service to ASPRS and/or who have attained distinction in advancing the science and use of the geospatial information sciences.  Greve and Salomonson will receive their awards at the ASPRS 2012 Annual Conference in Baltimore Maryland.

Online registration is now open for the joint MAPPS/ASPRS 2012 Specialty Conference to be held October 29 through November 1 2012 in Tampa Florida.  This year’s conference theme “Ground to Cloud (R)Evolution – Emerging Technologies Supporting Geospatial Application,” will focus on the “(R)Evolution” of this dynamic technology through geospatial applications such as lidar (airborne ground based Flash and Waveform) Visualization and Modeling Data fusion/integration 3D GIS and the integration of GIS and BIM technologies. We will also touch on many aspects of digital elevation mapping with a special emphasis on the use of cloud based computing and the implications of using Software as a Service (SaaS) Platforms as a Service (PaasS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) on the geospatial enterprise.

Dean W. Merchant Winner of Photogrammetric Award

The Photogrammetric Award (Fairchild) was awarded to Dean W. Merchant PhD PE. at the 2012 Annual ASPRS Conference in Sacramento in March.  This award the essence of which is practicability is designed to stimulate the development of the art of aerial photogrammetry in the United States.  The selection committee makes its choice based on an outstanding invention or design involving any type of equipment that applies to the art of aerial photogrammetry; any outstanding method developed for the general use of aerial photographs and/or imagery; outstanding research for study along aerial photogrammetric lines and outstanding effort for the general advancement of the art of photogrammetry.  Lockheed Martin donates funding for the award which consists of a silver presentation plaque.