LiDAR/IFSAR SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING
15 January 2008 10:00-12:00 AK Time

Room 152, Tudor Road Building, Anchorage, AK

Attendance: Hans-Erik Andersen (FS), Benjamin Jones (USGS), Bill Holloway (Kenai Borough), Robert Ruffner (Kenai Watershed Forum), Cory Black (BLM), Greg Barrett (BLM), Chris Noyles (BLM), Shannon Earl (Fugro Earthdata), Bob Thomason (Aerometric), Mark Syren (Aerometric), Louise Hooper (AK DOT/PF), Stacy Demming (NPS), Dorothy Mortenson (NPS/SWAN), Rich Grotefendt (Grotefendt Photogrammetry)
On phone: Mark Riley (FS), Tom Cecere (USGS), Bill Sharp (Fugro Earthdata), Dave Lewis (Sanborn), Jamie Young (Sanborn)
Attempted to contact: Rick Guritz (UAF), Don Atwood (UAF)
Those expressing interest that could not attend:Carl Markon (USGS), Jordan Menig (USGS), Gail Morrison (Allied GIS), Leanne Lestak (INSTAAR), Bill Manley (INSTAAR)

Meeting Notes

Introductory Presentation on LiDAR and IFSAR technologies and purpose of the subcommittee: Hans-Erik Andersen

Hans provided a brief overview of the airborne LiDAR and IFSAR technologies, with particular emphasis on terrain and forest mapping applications. He also provided information on the Alaska regional forum on the CLICK website and some thoughts on the potential role of the AGDC lidar/ifsar subcommittee to get the discussion rolling.

Introduction of Alaska forum on CLICK website:

http://lidar.cr.usgs.gov/index.php

Follow Bulletin board – > Regional groups –> Alaska regional group

Discussion on Role of LiDAR/IFSAR subcommittee (Is it worthwhile?): Group Discussion
Chris Noyles got the discussion rolling and everyone seemed to agree that this subcommittee is a worthwhile endeavor and that the key role of the subcommittee will be to (1) provide a forum for facilitating the coordination of LiDAR/IFSAR collections among federal, state, and private organizations in Alaska, (2) support of broader AGDC initiatives and development of coordinated methodologies for implementing standards and policies for collection of LiDAR/IFSAR-derived elevation data, and (3) promote awareness within the geospatial community in Alaska as to possible applications and cost savings afforded by these technologies.

Dorothy Mortenson mentioned that the subcommittee could provide information on the appropriate lidar/ifsar data specs in relation to applications (i.e. what resolution is needed to generate terrain models of a certain quality, in a given vegetation type, etc.). Hans mentioned that there could be links to this type of information and literature on the CLICK website.

Some other roles for the committee included: track and facilitate access to existing data, provide input on standards for elevation data, provide forum to discuss opportunities to pool funding for large acquisitions, educate users as to potential applications.

Chris Noyles indicated that licensing could be a big issue for the subcommittee to address – he sees tremendous benefits from paying a little bit more to make data available to more users.

Bill Holloway also highlighted five benefits of having the subcommittee: (1) synthesize existing data into a map, (2) develop standards and specs for collecting LiDAR and IFSAR in Alaska, (3) provide the opportunity to pool funds, (4) education, and (5) coordination.

Brief Update on Kenai LiDAR acquisition: Bill Holloway and Robert Ruffner
As the Kenai LiDAR acquisition will serve as the largest regional collect of LiDAR data in Alaska, Bill and Robert spoke to the trials and tribulations of organizing such an effort; particularly the different funding cycles between federal, state, and local governments plays a role as well as the inability for a non-profit group to directly transfer funds to the USGS. All in all, the possibility of the collect occurring remains hopeful.

Discussion on existing LiDAR/IFSAR data in Alaska:

IFSAR:

• Large portion of the NPR-A
• Other North Slope areas?
• Aleutians?

LiDAR:

• Bering Land Bridge National Park
• Matanuska River Valley
• Various collects over Anchorage
• Wasilla
• Barrow?
• Mountain passes, FAA?
• Forest Service?
• Others?

Potential Acquisition of LiDAR/IFSAR in 2008:

• Kenai Peninsula
• Anchorage Bowl and Chugach Mountains
• Beaufort Sea Coast
• Others?

Action Items:

Benjamin Jones will contact both vendors and agencies requesting coverages and/or shapefiles of all LiDAR/IFSAR data collected to date in the state. These will become the basis for the statewide map that will be posted on the CLICK website. Information would include spatial extent and any available associated metadata (system used, density/resolution, etc.)

• Chris Noyles mentioned the need to also add planned acquisitions to the map.
• Robert Ruffner mentioned that BLM has already undertaken this endeavor and that if/when this gets completed to include metadata.
• Jason Stoker of the USGS Eros Data Center has indicated interest in helping us to develop this map. Posting it on the CLICK website would facilitate access and wide distribution.

Links of Interest:

National Academy of Sciences report on the need for better elevation data to support FEMA flood maps for the nation, Alaska is briefly mentioned in the report.
Report link: http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20070201c.html

First LiDAR for the nation meeting presentations and Open-File report:
http://lidar.cr.usgs.gov/presentations.php
http://lidar.cr.usgs.gov/presentations/NLImeetingReport-final.pdf

LIDARcomm website (courtesy of Chris Noyles) with an email listserve for folks:
http://lidarcomm.com/

Second LiDAR for the nation meeting planned for 21-22 May 2008, USGS Headquarters, Reston, VA

Neither Hans nor Ben will likely be able to attend this meeting – Ben indicated that Carl Markon might be able to attend.

Here’s the announcement for this meeting:

The USGS is currently taking the lead in cooperation with many partners in the evaluation of a potential future high-resolution National Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) Dataset. We are in the early stages of determining viability, developing what this dataset should look like, what kinds of information contained in a lidar signal are most important for the U.S. people, and what each stakeholders roles and responsibilities could be. In February 2007, we hosted the first National Lidar Initiative Strategy Meeting at USGS Headquarters in Reston, VA. The presentations and a published summary report from the first meeting can be found on our Center for Lidar Information Coordination and Knowledge (CLICK) web page: http://lidar.cr.usgs.gov. We will be hosting a second meeting May 21-22nd 2008 at USGS Headquarters in Reston, VA, to further discuss this mission and hopefully move forward on actions. We are also leading the formation of an Interagency Lidar Working Group to help evaluate, organize and design this strategy with a unified National voice.

In preparation for the second meeting, we are encouraging discussion of this potential dataset at state, federal, commercial and local agencies. We would like to encourage our fellow university lidar researchers to begin discussion of this idea as well, as their opinions are also needed in moving forward with this effort. With such a massive undertaking (and cost) ahead, we want to make sure we do this properly. There is not a one size fits all solution, but there may be an optimal solution with varying parameters across the country that we can design given enough input from enough stakeholders.

We are asking you to participate in this meeting to help guide the direction of this potential massive future data collection. We need your expertise and experience to help us in this mission. We are currently soliciting abstracts for posters and presentations for this meeting. We are ideally looking for presentations concerning large-area or national-scale lidar applications. Any lidar-related posters are welcome. Please send a 300 word or less abstract of your potential poster or presentation, or any questions regarding this meeting to lidar@usgs.gov. The deadline for abstracts is March 1st, 2008. We also encourage discussion on this topic on CLICK’s National Lidar Dataset forum http://lidarbb.cr.usgs.gov.

We hope to hear from you soon. Please forward this to anyone we missed that you think would be interested in this meeting.

USGS CIDR tool
Tom Cecere (USGS) described the CIDR tool that they’ve developed. Tom elaborated on the CIDR tool in a follow-up e-mail: “I mentioned during yesterday's meeting that there were numerous requirements in the CIDR tool dealing with InSAR and Lidar. The question came up regarding current examples. This table provides a summary of what has currently been captured in the CIDR tool for FY07 - FY08. More complete information may be accessed via the CIDR tool. For the projects that have already had IfSAR and/or lidar data collected, I would like to capture this information in the CIDR tool. This information will better aid the team of analysts that are assisting users in communicating and hopefully will lead to ultimately acquiring data. For those interested, the CIDR tool is accessed at http://cidr.cr.usgs.gov, Federal users can have a login and password set up within hours. Other users can view information as guests (as well as download shapefiles and table entries). I would be happy to walk people through the process. FYI, I plan on coming to Anchorage for the Survey and Mapping Conference in February.”

Next meeting
There was a consensus that the subcommittee should meet approximately 3 times a year, ideally in conjunction with other events, such as the general AGDC meetings or the Alaska Surveying and Mapping conference. It was also suggested that the subcommittee invite one speaker for each meeting (from private or public sector) that will discuss the details of a large scale lidar/ifsar project or acquisition.

The next LiDAR/IFSAR subcommittee meeting will be in April or May. Date/time/location/agenda will be announced via the CLICK Alaska regional forum and the AGDC e-mail list.

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://agdc.usgs.gov/info/minutes/LiDAR_IFSAR_Subcommittee_Meeting_notes_15Jan08.html
Page Contact Information: ascweb@usgs.gov
Page Last Modified: Fri May 30 07:59:52 2008