WORKSHOPS - October 19th, 2004

Workshop 1
Remote Sensing and GIS Integration
Dr. Barry Haack, George Mason University

This workshop will begin with a review of basic remote sensing concepts and vocabulary including types of resolution, sensing platforms, electromagnetic spectrum and energy flow profile. The remote sensing focus of this workshop will be on spaceborne rather than airborne platforms. The workshop will provide an overview of the current and near-term status of spaceborne platforms and sensor systems. These systems are divided into the following categories; 1) high spatial resolution (< 5m) systems, 2) medium spatial resolution (5-100m) multispectral, 3) low spatial resolution (> 100m) multispectral, 4) radar, and 5) hyperspectral.

The two directional relationships between remote sensing and GIS will be examined. This will first include how ancillary GIS data, such as slope and elevation, can be used to improve automated digital classification of remotely sensed data by stratification or use of a hierarchical classifier. The second direction is issues related to using remote sensing data to provide informational layers for a GIS. The three primary methods are visual interpretation from imagery, existing GIS layer updates using digital overlays of remote sensing data, and automated classification of digital data. A review of digital classification methods including selection of data and a classification system, signature extraction, application of a statistical decision rule, and accuracy assessment will be presented. Also discussed will be procedures for geometric registration and issues of cartographic scale and generalization for creating GIS layers from spaceborne remote sensing.

Dr. Barry Haack is a Professor of Geographic and Cartographic Sciences in the Department of Geography at George Mason University in Fairfax. His primary research interest has been the application of spaceborne remote sensing and associated mapping technologies such as GIS for resource inventory and analysis. He has had fellowships with NASA Goddard, the USAF, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He has also been a Research Scientist at ERIM, a Fulbright Professor in Tanzania, and conducted training and research for the US Census, USDA, World Bank, and the United Nations.

Workshop 2
ArcGlobe Tips and Tricks
Brady Hoak, ESRI

ArcGlobe is the new whole Earth visualization and analysis application from ESRI that is part of the 3D Analyst Extension for ArcGIS 9.0. You will learn how to make effective animations (AVI files) from your data scenes and how to load elevation, imagery, and vector data to create a realistic scene and then symbolize it. We will touch on some software development aspects as well with ArcGlobe. Also shown will be how to use the new ModelBuilder viewer to create an analytical model to solve a GIS problem.

Brady Hoak has worked with ESRI for three years and has been working in software development for ten years after graduating from the University of Virginia. He currently works in Technical Marketing at ESRI at the Vienna, Virginia office.

Workshop 3
LIDAR – Comprehensive Update
Robert Ryan, CP, PLS, EarthData International

This workshop will cover four main areas regarding airborne LIDAR acquisition and processing; theory, technology, techniques, and applications. Throughout this workshop there will be discussion focusing on topics such as; point density, file size, horizontal and vertical accuracy, breaklines, and contour generation.