OpenTopography Blog

Information and discussion related to high-resolution LiDAR topography for the Earth sciences

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Category: Workshops

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Application deadline change: New Tools in Process-Based Analysis of Lidar Topographic Data

Posted on Fri, March 12, 2010 by ccrosby in Workshops

Note that due to the large number of applicants, the deadline for applying to the “New Tools in Process-Based Analysis of Lidar Topographic Data” workshop has been moved up to 9 AM EST on Monday, March 15:

Dear Colleagues,

On March 7th, we announced an upcoming workshop titled

“New Tools in Process-Based Analysis of Lidar Topographic Data,”

to be held June 1-2 in Boulder, CO.

Since then we received a very large number of applications (more than three
times the number of available spaces in the workshop), and must close the
application process prior to the previously listed April 1 deadline.  The
official application period now will end at 9 AM EST on Monday, March 15.
Later this month, we will contact all applicants via email regarding the
status of their applications. Thank you all for your great interest in the
lidar workshop!

Regards,

Dorothy and Noah

Dorothy Merritts (Franklin and Marshall College, )
Noah Snyder (Boston College, )

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Workshop Announcement: New Tools in Process-Based Analysis of Lidar Topographic Data

Posted on Mon, March 08, 2010 by ccrosby in Workshops

Please see the following announcement for an upcoming NSF-sponsored workshop on “New Tools in Process-Based Analysis of Lidar Topographic Data,” to be held June 1-2 at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in Boulder, Colorado.  The goal of the workshop is to “provide researchers in Earth surface processes with an opportunity to gain hands-on knowledge in new methods for analyzing high-resolution topographic data. Participants should have active research projects using lidar data (airborne or ground-based). Graduate students, faculty and other researchers are encouraged to attend”.

Dear Colleagues,

You are invited to participate in an NSF-sponsored workshop called “New Tools in Process-Based Analysis of Lidar Topographic Data,” to be held June 1-2 at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. This workshop is a follow-up to one held in 2008 called “Workshop on Studying Earth Surface Processes with High-resolution Topographic Data” (http://www.ncalm.ufl.edu/workshop%20report.pdf). The goal of this year’s workshop is to provide researchers in Earth surface processes with an opportunity to gain hands-on knowledge in new methods for analyzing high-resolution topographic data. Participants should have active research projects using lidar data (airborne or ground-based). Graduate students, faculty and other researchers are encouraged to attend.

The format over the two days will include four three-hour workshop timeslots (with two workshops running concurrently in each), two plenary lectures by interdisciplinary experts in analysis of lidar data (Michael Lefsky from Colorado State University and Ralph Haugerud from the USGS- Seattle), and short presentations and posters by all workshop participants.

Funding will be provided by NSF for rooms, some meals, and the workshop itself for approximately 40-50 participants. It is up to each participant to get to Boulder.

To reserve a place at the workshop, please email the organizers (dorothy.merritts@fandm.edu and noah.snyder@bc.edu) the following information by April 1, 2010:

1. Name
2. Title (graduate student, professor, postdoc, researcher, etc.)
3. One sentence description of your lidar-related research

We anticipate the workshop spaces filling rapidly, so reply ASAP. Please feel free to forward this email to colleagues who might be interested.

Please contact us if you have questions.

Workshop organizers:
Dorothy Merritts (Franklin and Marshall College, dorothy.merritts@fandm.edu)
Noah Snyder (Boston College, noah.snyder@bc.edu)

New Tools in Process-Based Analysis of Lidar Topographic Data

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
Boulder, Colorado, USA
June 1-2, 2010

Workshop sessions

1.  Title:  The River Bathymetry Toolkit

Leaders: Jim McKean and Dave Nagel (U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Boise); and Philip Bailey (ESSA Technologies Ltd.)

Description: This workshop presents the River Bathymetry Toolkit (RBT), which processes high-resolution DEMs of channels and calculates standard measures of hydraulic geometry and aquatic habitat at user-defined locations. (Note: this workshop will be presented twice.)

2.  Title:  Filtering and quantitative analysis of lidar data

Leaders:  Steve Martel (University of Hawaii) and Taylor Perron (MIT)

Description:  This workshop will present methods for filtering and smoothing lidar data to detect and remove outliers, to diminish noise, and to detect and enhance signals.

3.  Title:  Identifying and mapping landforms and quantifying fault displacement with lidar digital topographic data

Leaders:  Ramon Arrowsmith (ASU); Kurt Frankel (Georgia Tech); and Ralph Haugerud (USGS/University of Washington)

Description:  A hands on and applied workshop on mapping, designed to bridge from academic to agency and industry communities. Workshop will include reference to activities underway by California Geological Survey and Oregon DOGAMI.

4.  Title:  Extracting landscape metrics for tectonic interpretation

Leaders:  George Hilley (Stanford University) and Ramon Arrowsmith (ASU)

Description:  This workshop includes the wavelet analysis of high resolution digital topography and the calculation of area-slope based metrics across DEMs with different spatial resolutions.

5.  Title:  1D hydraulic modeling with lidar data

Leader:  Noah Finnegan (UC- Santa Cruz)

Description:  This workshop will present the basics of 1) generating input files from lidar data for use with the 1D hydraulic modeling package HEC-RAS, and 2) Performing simple lidar-based open channel flow calculations in HEC-RAS.

6.  Title:  Meaningful Change Detection and Sediment Budgeting from Repeat Topographic Data

Leader: Joseph Wheaton (Utah State University)

Description: As repeat topographic data sets become an increasingly popular form of scientific monitoring, the need grows for robust methods of quantifying and accounting for uncertainties in those data to reliably distinguish between calculated changes likely to be real versus those changes one cannot distinguish from noise. Once the uncertainties in repeat topographic data sets are accounted for, the more interesting question of how to interpret the data and use it to test specific hypotheses remains. In this session, participants will learn how to use the DEM of Difference Uncertainty Analysis Software to do both an uncertainty analysis of repeat topographic datasets and interpret the data in terms of sediment budgets.

More Information: http://www.joewheaton.org/Home/research/projects-1/morphological-sediment-budgeting

7.  Title:  GeoNet: A computational tool for channel extraction from lidar

Leader:  Paola Passalacqua (National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics, University of Minnesota)

Description:  GeoNet is an advanced methodology for channel network extraction, which incorporates nonlinear diffusion for the pre-processing of the data and geodesic energy minimization for the extraction of channels.  This 3-hour workshop will combine a lecture with hands-on practice. The lecture will introduce the theoretical background, and the hands-on portion will focus on the application of GeoNet to basins of different geomorphologic characteristics.

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On the Cutting Edge workshop on Using GIS and Remote Sensing to Teach Geoscience

Posted on Sat, March 06, 2010 by ccrosby in Workshops

I received the following announcement from Barb Tewksbury at Hamilton about an upcoming series of On the Cutting Edge workshops that they are hosting on the topics of Teaching Geoscience Using GIS and Remote Sensing and Teaching Geoscience in the Field in the 21st Century.  Certainly the GIS and remote sensing course is very applicable to many users of OpenTopography, and combined with the field course should be an excellent week in Bozeman, MT.  Note that the application deadline is March 20, 2010.  All the details:

On the Cutting Edge will offer two back-to-back workshops at Montana State University, Bozeman, MT in August, 2010:

Teaching Geoscience Using GIS and Remote Sensing (August 8-11)
Teaching Geoscience in the Field in the 21st Century (August 13-16)

The day between the workshops (August 12) will be an optional overlap day for both workshops and will focus on teaching in the field using GeoPads. The Field workshop will be followed by an optional field trip in the Yellowstone area (August 17-19).

Faculty may apply to attend either or both workshops. We are looking for applicants who currently teach GIS, remote sensing, or field geology to undergraduate geoscience students. Please note that the GIS/RS workshop is not a workshop to train faculty in the technical use of GIS systems – we are looking for people who currently teach GIS/RS and are interested in exploring effective ways of meeting the needs of geoscience students.

Application must be made online by March 20, 2010. Complete information about the workshops plus online applications can be found at:

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/gis10/index.html
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/field/workshop10/index.html

If you have questions, please email Barb Tewksbury (btewksbu@hamilton.edu) about the GIS/RS workshop or Dave Mogk (mogk@montana.edu) about the Field workshop.

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LiDAR Short Courses at the 2009 Geological Society of America Meeting

Posted on Thu, July 16, 2009 by ccrosby in Meetings • Workshops

The 2009 GSA Annual Meeting in Portland, OR will include two workshops devoted to LiDAR derived topography and applications to geoscience.  Ramon Arrowsmith and I taught a LiDAR-oriented GSA short course in 2007 (Denver) and found it to be an excellent way to introduce geologists to LiDAR topography.  You can find information and materials from our 2007 course here: Processing and Analysis of GeoEarthScope and Other Community LiDAR Topography Datasets

Additional information about the 2009 LiDAR short courses as well as the many other workshops offered by GSA is available on their Short Course Program page.

2009 GSA LiDAR Short Courses:

501. INTERFACE WORKSHOP: Recent developments in the methods and applications of terrestrial laser scanning (ground-based LiDAR) in geologic research and education
Fri., 16 Oct., 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Instructors: John Oldow and Carlos Aiken, Univ. of Texas at Dallas; David Phillips, UNAVCO

This workshop will provide faculty, students, and professionals with the basic principles of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), aka ground-based LiDAR, workflows and best practices for the acquisition and processing of TLS data, an overview of various TLS platforms, and examples of science and education applications. This one-day workshop will consist of lectures and hands-on application of TLS equipment and data processing. TLS provides very high-resolution images over relatively small areas, is relatively inexpensive to acquire, and has been used successfully to support a wide range of geoscience investigations from outcrop mapping to deformation monitoring.

GEON / OpenTopography are collaborators on the INTERFACE project and this should be an excellent workshop for geologists interested in learning about the exciting potential of Terrestrial Laser Scanning.

The second workshop is devoted to airborne LiDAR topography data of the type hosted by OpenTopography.  This 1.5 day course features a long list of very qualified instructors (including me!) and should be an excellent overview and introduction to LiDAR topography for geologic applications.

515. Introduction to the acquisition, visualization, and interpretation of airborne LiDAR-derived digital elevation models
Sat., 17 Oct., 9 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sun., 18 Oct., 9 a.m.–12 p.m. Instructors: Ian Madin, Oregon Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries; Ralph Haugerud, USGS; Michael Oskin, Univ. of California at Davis; Chris Crosby, Univ. of California at San Diego; Ramon Arrowsmith, Arizona State Univ.

LiDAR-derived elevation datasets are becoming widely available and offer digital elevation models (DEMs) of unprecedented resolution and accuracy. This course will teach geoscientists to acquire, visualize, and analyze LiDAR-based DEMs. Guided tutorials on individual workstations will use ESRI ArcGIS software, GEON software products, and LiDAR viewing freeware. The field portion of the class will compare recent high-resolution LiDAR images with the real environment of the surrounding area. The instructors are geologists who have worked with LiDAR data for many years at UC-Davis, Arizona State Univ., the GEON program, and the Puget Sound and Oregon LiDAR Consortia.
This course will be held in the Portland State University Geology Department GIS training laboratory.

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GEON Cyperinfrastructure Summer Institute for Geoscientists

Posted on Wed, April 29, 2009 by ccrosby in News • Resources • Workshops

For the 6th year in a row, GEON will be hosting the Cyberinfrastructure Summer Institute for Geoscientists at San Diego Supercomputer Center, August 10-14.  Of particular interest to the OpenTopography community, CSIG ‘09 will feature a day devoted specifically to OpenTopo.  We will discuss the technology that makes OpenTopography work as well as brainstorm opportunities for integrating high-resolution LiDAR topography into the classroom.  CSIG is a great chance for earth scientists to gain exposure to the emerging information technology trends and resources that make community, web-based, systems like the OpenTopography Portal possible.

GEON is pleased to announce the 6th Cyberinfrastructure Summer Institute for Geoscientists (CSIG) to be held August 10-14 at the San Diego Supercomputer Center on the University of California, San Diego campus.  General and program information, as well as online registration is available at: http://www.geongrid.org/csig09

CSIG‘09 will expose participants to emergent Geoinformatics approaches to 3D and 4D integration of geoscience data.  Given the diverse interests of past CSIG participants, and the feedback that they provided, this year’s program will feature two “tracks” of instruction:

“Build”:  Overview of the technologies utilized to develop earth science cyberinfrastructure.
“Education”:  Utilization of cyberinfrastructure-based data systems and tools for earth science education and research.

Interested applicants at all levels are encouraged to apply, including graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and professionals in earth science and related disciplines. 

Course registration and accommodations are paid for with support received from the National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov).  Selected participants will be responsible for funding their own travel to San Diego for the Institute. 

The Registration Deadline for the CSIG ’09 is June 7th.  Registration can be found at http://www.geongrid.org/csig09.

Please forward this information to anyone that may be interested in this year’s CSIG.

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