Dear Colleagues:

We would like to bring to your attention the following special session on Ground Based Geodetic Techniques and Science Applications to be held at the 2010 Fall AGU Meeting in San Francisco, December 13 - 17:

Ground Based Geodetic Techniques and Science Applications
Ground-based geodesy is a rapidly expanding and evolving technology. Tools such as terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) and/or ground-based radars (GBR) promise to expand our detailed understanding of the fundamental processes that drive a broad range of spatial (3D) and temporal (4D) science applications. We invite contributions that discuss both the technical aspects of the technology and process-based geoscience studies using ground-based geodetic tools such as, but not limited to, TLS and GBR. What are the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of the technologies? How is the technology being used to address static and dynamic scientific problems? We encourage contributions from a wide range of disciplines.

http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm10/program/scientific_session_search.php?show=detail&sessid=269

Best regards,

Benjamin Brooks, David Phillips, and Gerald Bawden - Session conveners

David’s article provides a nice overview of LiDAR technology, a few nice graphics like the one above, and a good intro to how these data have been applied to his PBR research in Arizona.

Arizona Geology article: High-Resolution Digital Topography in Arizona

Via: Lee Allison’s Arizona Geology blog

Thus far, I’ve noticed high-resolution data in downtown Portland, OR, the greater Los Angeles area, and Mount Saint Helens in Washington.  There may be other examples of LiDAR-derived terrain in Google Maps since I haven’t searched very hard.  If you are aware of other areas leave a comment.

Below are a few sites in Google Maps where you can clearly see the high-resolution data.

Downtown Portland, OR.  Data are sourced from the Oregon LiDAR Consortium managed by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI).  Note obvious building foundations, hillslope modifications, etc.:

Edge of LiDAR near Washington Park in Portland - bare earth LiDAR on the east side, 10 m (?) data on the west:

LiDAR bare earth data near Beverly Hills, CA.  I’m not sure of the origin of these data - does anyone know if the original LiDAR point cloud and DEM data are publicly available?:

Obvious seam between LiDAR grids and lower resolution terrain data north of Yorba Linda, CA:

Finally, the very impressive Mount Saint Helens data.  Presumably these are the data collected by NASA in partnership with USGS in 2003-2004 during a period of significant volcanic activity:

It is really nice to see these high-resolution terrain datasets making it into such a common and easily accessible platform like Google Maps.  OpenTopography provides network-linked KMZ files to deliver LiDAR derived imagery data to Google Earth so that they are available to non-expert users, and direct incorporation of these data into the Google Maps terrain layer takes the accessibility of these data one step further.  As the number of public domain LiDAR data collections increases, I’d expect that we’ll see more examples of LiDAR appearing in maps and online visualizations accessible to the general public. 

An interesting, and logical follow on question to LiDAR in Google Maps, is when will Google will tackle the integration of high-resolution terrain data into the topographic mesh in Google Earth?  For the Earth science community, 1 meter terrain data in Google earth would be revolutionary.

Workshops on Interoperability/Technology and Education/Outreach aspects of Geoinformatics – working towards a National Geoinformatics Community

Workshop overview:
Building on the experience gathered from previous workshops on geoinformatics, the academic community has the opportunity to be directly involved in planning and coordinating future efforts in geoinformatics research and learning.  The main objectives of these workshops are to identify the best ways to integrate and share data and knowledge from different fields in the geosciences, focus geoinformatics research and education priorities, and build a National Geoinformatics Community (NGC).  Important to this is to address aspects related to interoperability/technology and education/outreach.  The vision for NGC is to advance geoinformatics at all levels via outreach, advocacy, and fostering communities of practice. The NGC concept has evolved from numerous workshops, town hall meetings, and the work of an exploratory committee in meetings with existing and successful community efforts such as UNAVCO, IRIS, Ocean Leadership (formerly JOI), and CUAHSI.  


We invite participation in the two-day workshop to establish the National Geoinformatics Community.  The first day and a half will be run as two parallel, separate workshops: one for interoperability/technology and the other for education/outreach.  The two groups will meet for the last half-day to review results and plan for future activities and establishing the NGC.  The workshops will be held at the USGS, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO.

More information about the workshop and application information are available at: http://ngc.usgin.org/WorkshopsOnInteroperability.htm

The global ICESat LiDAR coverage allows this kind of comprehensive mapping of the forest height globally:

Lidar can capture vertical slices of forest canopy height by shooting pulses of light at the ground and observing how much longer it takes for light to bounce back from the surface than from the top of the forest canopy. Since lidar can penetrate the top layer of forest canopy, it provides a detailed snapshot of the vertical structure of a forest.

“Lidar is unparalleled for this type of measurement,” Lefsky said. “It would have taken weeks or more to collect the same amount of data in the field by counting and measuring tree trunks that lidar can capture in seconds.”

OpenTopography and partners from UNAVCO and the National Snow and Ice Data Center have funding from NASA to provide integrated access to existing NASA LiDAR data products from ICESat and LVIS, as well as on-demand processing capability, and enhanced QA/QC metrics to make these data more easily accessible and usable to a range of scientists.  Once implemented, access to these data will be available through the OpenTopography Portal.  Read more about the NASA LiDAR Access System (NLAS) project.

Good afternoon,

We would like to call your attention to a topical session (oral) at the national GSA meeting in Denver in October:

T145. Virtual Tectonics
GSA Structural Geology and Tectonics Division; GSA Geoscience Education Division; GSA Geoinformatics Division; GSA Geology and Society Division; National Association of Geoscience Teachers
Declan G. De Paor, S.J Whitmeyer

Application of virtual reality to tectonics: virtual field trips, LiDAR, Gigapans, Google Earth, Second Life, virtual specimens, animations, simulations of tectonic and neotectonic processes, interactive maps, lunar and planetary VR, and the geology of exoplanets.

We encourage abstract submissions on topics that focus on using modern digital technology and/or cyber-based tools to address any variety of Earth or Planetary tectonics-related topics. In addition, we encourage abstracts that address education and/or research oriented themes.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, and remember that the deadline for abstract submissions is August 10. The link for abstract submissions is: http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2010AM/top/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=25815

cheers -

Steve Whitmeyer (whitmesj@jmu.edu)
Declan De Paor (ddepaor@odu.edu)

We would like to draw your attention to the following Topical Session at the 2010 GSA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado (Oct. 31st - Nov. 3rd):

T32. Seeing the True Shape of Earth’s Surface: Applications of Airborne and Terrestrial LiDAR in the Geosciences (Oral and Poster)

High-resolution lidar data are now becoming available over large areas of earth’s surface. This session will examine how these highly detailed images of the landscape provide unprecedented opportunities for qualitative and quantitative analysis of earth processes. We invite presentations from any application of lidar in the geosciences. The session is being co-sponsored by the GSA Engineering Geology , Structural Geology and Tectonics, Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology, Sedimentary Geology , Geoinformatics, and Geophysics Divisions and will accompany a Pardee Keynote Symposium on the same topic.

Conveners:
Ian Madin (ian.madin@dogami.state.or.us)
Kurt Frankel (kfrankel@gatech.edu)

Given that there appears to be some confusion, here is a quick summary of how to access the publicly available Haiti lidar data products.  If you are aware of other pathways to the data leave a comment and I’ll update the list.

Point cloud data:

The World Bank funded data are available from the RIT Information Products Laboratory for Emergency Response (IPLER) Haiti earthquake page.  Available products include classified point clouds in LAS format and first return (SEM) and bare earth (DEM) terrain models in GeoTIFF formats.  From the IPLER Haiti page:

Data can be DOWNLOADED: Anonymous FTP (not an SFTP) using thor.cis.rit.edu OR the WASP HTTP Site

First return (SEM) and bare earth (DEM) terrain models in GeoTIFF formats (derived from the LAS point cloud data) are available via the IPLER Haiti FTP and HTTP sites listed above, or from an FTP site hosted by the USGS that was deployed to host earthquake-related data: http://edcftp.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/disaster/201001_Earthquake_Haiti/

Google Earth Image Overlays:

Using the gridded World Bank LiDAR data downloaded from the USGS FTP site above, I generated a cache of hillshade imagery and a network linked KML file to access these images in Google Earth.  Download of the KML file and more information can be found in this blog post: Haiti LiDAR imagery in Google Earth

NGA ALIRT LiDAR:

Access to NGA ALIRT LiDAR data are via the NGA Haiti ALIRT page, which provides an overview map of the collection area and a link to download ”Geospatial Data Files”.  Products range from movies and PDF visuals of data to DSMs in GeoTIFF format.

The BCAL videos page also features a 3D tour of the Borah Peak Earthquake rupture and an introduction to LiDAR technology.  These resources, produced with National Science Foundation Idaho EPSCoR Program funding, are great resources for education and outreach.