GIS Day Recap
Thursday, November 14th was GIS day at Purdue University. Purdue had the opportunity to host speakers from many different fields, all who had unique backgrounds and ways they used GIS in their day-to-day work. The morning started off with a few quick talks from students using GIS. One was analyzing the shift in forest communities in the eastern United States, one was plotting religious sites and zones in China, and the last was one of my classmates who demonstrated how to use GIS to plan UAS missions. This led straight into the keynote speaker for the day: Dr. Carly Sakumura, a research and devopment scientist at Maxar Technologies. The day also contained a lunch where all the speakers had the chance to go through each their own background and how they made their way into GIS, and the day wrapped up with a few more speakers and the poster presentations.
It was neat to see all the different ways GIS is being used. I am used to seeing GIS as it relates to UAS technology, but at GIS day, I got to see it used with mapping religions, tracking the shifting of natural forests and tree species, examining and evaluating agricultural development in southern Peru, many positions with Indiana Department of Transportation utilizing GIS, assessing condition of roadways, using GIS for Indiana Census data, as well as many forms of mapping, with my favorite being the keynote speaker's presentation.
As I mentioned, our keynote speaker was Dr. Carly Sakumura. Dr. Carly Sakumura works for a company called Maxar Technologies. Maxar Technologies owns a fleet of imaging satellites in orbit around the Earth with resolutions ranging from 30 cm to 50 cm in their RGB imaging capabilities. Maxar's motto is to "create a better world." Maxar has used their technology to support the ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has helped identify fishing vessels and rescue slaves from human trafficking, has helped to map every single building in Australia, totaling over 3.5 million buildings, as well as assisting in the case of natural disasters, providing pre-disaster imagery as well as post-disaster through the use of their open data program.
For me, the day was informative. My view of GIS was limited to the small mosaics we create in and for class, as well as the various other data and analytics we have done such as volumetrics and 3D modelling of objects. At the same time, while the keynote was unique and very interesting to listen to, I noticed that several of the other presenters or panelists came from a GIS background with the Indiana Department of Transportation. Unfortunately, a lot of these could not have a use, or would be difficult to integrate with unmanned systems. I think some of these fields and research that was presented--mapping via satellites, analyzing agricultural development, as well as LIDAR mapping--show promise for UAS.
A final thought I have is this: GIS day demonstrated that mapping, whether it's mapping of the terrain, of city roads, of trees or agriculture, has a large presence in the industry. We had the privilege of seeing examples of mapping data from satellites with 30 cm resolution. Unmanned aerial systems camera capabilities currently exceed the resolution capabilities of satellites at the cost of land area captured. What this means is that while satellites can compete on a large scale, UAS platforms can outperform on a small scale. One hope I have is that one day I will get to be a part of a large-scale mapping mission of Earth through the use of UAS technology, and as UAS technology improves and the market share rises, I definitely think this is a mission that will be possible in the next 20 years.
It was neat to see all the different ways GIS is being used. I am used to seeing GIS as it relates to UAS technology, but at GIS day, I got to see it used with mapping religions, tracking the shifting of natural forests and tree species, examining and evaluating agricultural development in southern Peru, many positions with Indiana Department of Transportation utilizing GIS, assessing condition of roadways, using GIS for Indiana Census data, as well as many forms of mapping, with my favorite being the keynote speaker's presentation.
As I mentioned, our keynote speaker was Dr. Carly Sakumura. Dr. Carly Sakumura works for a company called Maxar Technologies. Maxar Technologies owns a fleet of imaging satellites in orbit around the Earth with resolutions ranging from 30 cm to 50 cm in their RGB imaging capabilities. Maxar's motto is to "create a better world." Maxar has used their technology to support the ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has helped identify fishing vessels and rescue slaves from human trafficking, has helped to map every single building in Australia, totaling over 3.5 million buildings, as well as assisting in the case of natural disasters, providing pre-disaster imagery as well as post-disaster through the use of their open data program.
For me, the day was informative. My view of GIS was limited to the small mosaics we create in and for class, as well as the various other data and analytics we have done such as volumetrics and 3D modelling of objects. At the same time, while the keynote was unique and very interesting to listen to, I noticed that several of the other presenters or panelists came from a GIS background with the Indiana Department of Transportation. Unfortunately, a lot of these could not have a use, or would be difficult to integrate with unmanned systems. I think some of these fields and research that was presented--mapping via satellites, analyzing agricultural development, as well as LIDAR mapping--show promise for UAS.
A final thought I have is this: GIS day demonstrated that mapping, whether it's mapping of the terrain, of city roads, of trees or agriculture, has a large presence in the industry. We had the privilege of seeing examples of mapping data from satellites with 30 cm resolution. Unmanned aerial systems camera capabilities currently exceed the resolution capabilities of satellites at the cost of land area captured. What this means is that while satellites can compete on a large scale, UAS platforms can outperform on a small scale. One hope I have is that one day I will get to be a part of a large-scale mapping mission of Earth through the use of UAS technology, and as UAS technology improves and the market share rises, I definitely think this is a mission that will be possible in the next 20 years.
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