2006 midamerica gis symposium options for data purchasers 26 april, 2006 craig molander senior vice...

2006 MidAmerica GIS Symposium

Options for Data PurchasersOptions for Data Purchasers

26 April, 200626 April, 2006

Craig MolanderCraig MolanderSenior Vice President of Business DevelopmentSenior Vice President of Business Development

Surdex CorporationSurdex CorporationChesterfield, MO, USAChesterfield, MO, USA


OutlineOutline

Surdex Corporation Basis of costs in mapping Technology changes Film and digital cameras Suggestions Q&A


Surdex CorporationSurdex Corporation

Headquartered in Chesterfield, MO (~20 miles from downtown St. Louis) 51st year of operation

~75 employees Strong acquisition capability and strong partnerships R&D team focuses on software/hardware development/integration to

streamline production costs

Offerings include: Imagery/LIDAR acquisition:

3 piston aircraft, 3 pressurized turbine aircraft 6 film cameras Intergraph Digital Modular Camera LIDAR (self-integrated)

Image scanning (3 of the fastest image scanners on the market) Digital orthophoto production Digital surface model generation from LIDAR, digital correlation, 3D editing Planimetric (feature) capture GIS services: database design, population, compilation


Surdex CorporationSurdex Corporation

Operations across the entire contiguous United States and Alaska Clientele include:

Federal government: USDA, USGS, US Corps of Engineers Defense/defense mapping/Homeland Security Mapping State government Local governments Pipelines/utilities Private engineering/environmental

Surdex is known for performance and communication Web-based Collaborative Project Management System (CPMS) Dedicated project management Streamlined production emphasizing performance Dedicated R&D group supporting production and customers with unique

solutions and process flows “Solve your customer’s problems and they will solve yours”


Basis of CostsBasis of Costs

Mapping companies are capital-intensive businesses… Aircraft: $100K - $4M Aerial film cameras: $150K - $400K Large-format digital cameras: $800K - $1.5M Airborne LIDAR systems: $250K - $1M Image scanners: $50K - $150K

Operating with large costs… Workstations… Data storage…. Aircraft hangaring/maintenance/inspections/repair…

Surdex: Expended ~$6M in last 2 years on aircraft and instrumentation (75 people) Full-time aircraft maintenance staff Nearly 2 workstations per employee Nearly 2TB of on-line storage per employee…and growing



Utilization == estimated amount of use for high-expense equipment Higher utilization == lower operating cost per unit/hour Lower utilization == higher operating cost per unit/hour Must exceed fixed costs, leaving only variable costs to deal with

By pushing utilization higher, operating costs and prices to the customer are reduced

Example: increasing aircraft/instrument utilization Pursue work resulting in year-round flying (not just traditional spring and fall

leaf-off periods) – other markets, customers, regions of the country, even continents

Perform as much aircraft maintenance and inspections in-house – resulting in more productive time and thus higher utilization

Consider higher-performance aircraft that can move from project to project quickly, working around weather problems



What does this mean….

Acquisition of imagery can be the dominant costs for a project – especially digital orthophotos

Allow companies to suggest solutions that minimize acquisition, thus reducing costs

As resolution requirements increase, acquisition costs become less of the total – elevation modeling begins to dominate (labor costs)

Fly as high as possible to reduce acquisition costs

Examples of acquisition costs for digital orthophotos 1-meter (3 foot): ~70% of the total 0.5-meter (1.5 foot) : ~40% of the total 1 foot: ~20% of the total 0.5 foot: ~10% of the total


Technology ChangesTechnology Changes

Film, film processing, image scanning significantly better than 5-10 years ago

Can now scan imagery to 10 microns/pixel – used to be 15-25 microns/pixel guidelines

Can now scan 800 frames per day – used to be 200-300 Can push acquisition altitude higher for same digital orthophoto quality –

thus saving costs by as much as 2X Can “re-process” acquired imagery by re-scanning to a higher resolution for

additional detail Older guidelines for mapping and photography scales may not be valid

Digital cameras – last 2-4 years Offer multiple spectral bands from same flight (panchromatic, red, green,

blue, and near infrared) – less cost for additional products (especially color infrared)

Higher bit depth accelerates automated processing (digital matching) and ability to “see into the shadows” to some degree

Much higher signal-to-noise – higher quality resulting in higher interpretation value


Technology ChangesTechnology Changes

LIDAR – last 6-8 years Ability to “see through the trees” Day/night and nearly all-weather acquisition – optimizes utilization Can reduce net costs of topographic mapping – combined with imagery

coverage – by reducing labor costs


What Does this Mean?What Does this Mean?

General rules for digital orthophotos: Fly as high as possible – scanning at higher resolution For detailed elevation models – use LIDAR combined with 2D breaklines

collected from imagery PROVIDED the imagery will not be used for topographic mapping at a later

date – requires LIDAR data for detail


Film vs DigitalFilm vs Digital

Resources ~300 film aerial mapping cameras in North America ~30 large-format digital cameras in North America

Economics Film cameras cost ~$200-400K and last 15-20 years Large format digital cameras cost $1-1.5M and last 4-8 years Which one costs more to operate – and results in higher pricing? Digital does save film, film processing, film titling, and image scanning costs

– but this is not as significant a savings as instrument vendors believe…

Digital does provide other advantages Quality Multiple spectral bands/products from single acquisition “See into the shadows”…


Frame Digital SystemsFrame Digital Systems

Much like (frame) film cameras, utilizing matrix (2D) CCDs RGB, NIR often at lower resolution than panchromatic (B&W) bands Color/false color infrared (CIR) requires “pan sharpening” – addition of

higher resolution panchromatic data to lower resolution RGB/CIR Most systems “stitch” images from separate cameras into a virtual

(single) frame (Intergraph Digital Modular Camera, Vexcel UltraCam) An advantage for production companies: acquisition is different than film,

but production tools are unchanged ABGPS is standard operating procedure, IMU is optional


DMC In Surdex Cessna 441 DMC In Surdex Cessna 441 (Conquest)(Conquest)


DMC Image – ~3” GSDDMC Image – ~3” GSD


DMC Image (Close-Up)DMC Image (Close-Up)


Pushbroom Digital SystemsPushbroom Digital Systems

Ground scenes imaged unto linear (1D) CCD arrays as the aircraft moves

Bands are separated by beam-splitters – or separate optical paths – resulting in separate alignments for bands

Require ABPGS and IMU (inertial measurement unit – angular rotations) to reconstruct geometry for each “line” of imaging

Requires different production tools – but these are becoming common/standard and offered by more vendors

Good for orthophoto programs – minimized obliquity in the flight direction

As opposed to frames, imagery is captured in “strips” or “pixel carpets” – though often broken down into “frames” for convenience or stereoscopic editing

Resolution may be gated by aircraft speed – cannot fly too fast or pixels will be “stretched”


Leica Geosystems ADS-40Leica Geosystems ADS-40

Pushbroom scanner Some bands are mounted off-nadir Simultaneous forward/backward panchromatic Multi-spectral R,G,B,NIR

ADS-40


““Multi-Spectral”Multi-Spectral”

Some digital systems actually acquire multi-spectral imagery (MSI) Analogous to existing commercial remote sensing satellite systems Support of “classic” classification operations

True MSI: Defined as multiple bands acquired in non-overlapping segments of the

spectrum Not all digital cameras actually do this – many actually overlap responses for

RGB bands, but separate out near infrared Problem: converting MSI I into good rendition of natural color can be

problematic…especially if bands are too narrow and/or too widely separated

As often defined in requests for proposals, “MSI” is actually RGB & CIR Film would require multiple flights (one color, one CIR), or Multiple cameras in a single aircraft


Interpretive ValueInterpretive Value

Low signal-to-noise level of digital cameras (improved sharpness) may change data purchaser specifications in the future

Experienced users of digital systems know that digital has 1.5-2X the “interpretive value” of film-based imagery of the same resolution (GSD)

For example, a 2’ GSD digitally-acquired ortho will be as interpretive as a 1’ GSD film-acquired ortho

End-users must examine this carefully – requirements may be changed to reduce price

In-work test by Surdex Digital (DMC) and film acquisition over a test range only minutes apart Total of 7 different altitudes ranging from 3” to 1 meter film resolution Orthophotos being generated to compare interpretive values at varying

resolutions Will utilize “blind evaluations” by staff and customers – GSD will not be

disclosed Within next few weeks…


Digital Myths/Misconceptions…Digital Myths/Misconceptions…

“Direct to production…” Aircrews must copy data to “transport” drives – (2-6 hours) – and may miss

“FedEx” deadline Reality is that data is not always in the production facility the next day

All digital systems require a “post-processing” step for radiometric adjustment, “stitching”, ABGPS/IMU incorporation, etc. – that can take as long as (or longer) than image scanning cycle for film systems

“Cheaper for the end-user”… Digital systems ($1-1.5M) are far more expensive to purchase than film

systems ($250-400K) – extremely capital-intensive Digital systems will essentially last 5-8 years (before technology turnover) vs

the 15-20 years for film systems – and may need expensive upgrades High-resolution (1’ GSD and better) require much more terrain modeling and

the net cost difference versus film may be neglible Net effect: digital can be up to 10-25% more expensive Digital can be cheaper when multiple bands (panchromatic + RGB +

NIR/CIR) are required (which would cause multiple film flights)


Digital Myths/Misconceptions…Digital Myths/Misconceptions…

“Film is dead…”

Less than 10% of the acquisition systems in North America are digital Film still has its place…and is expected to be around 10-15 years For select large programs (eg: USDA National Agriculture Imagery

Program) digital systems are indeed becoming prominent: NAIP is 1-2 meter resolution digital orthophotos (DOQQs), with long-term

goal of automated classification 2003: 10% digital 2004: 25% digital 2005: 40% digital 2006: 50% digital

Owners of film cameras purchasing digital cameras: Many opt to “add” digital cameras, since film cameras still make $ Some have replaced film cameras in a nearly total transition to digital –

depends upon a company’s business model and market verticals


RadiometryRadiometry

Digital offers simultaneous panchromatic + RGB + NIR (or MSI) Film restricted to panchromatic or RGB or NIR or CIR

The primary distinguishing advantage of digital systems… Multiple products for marginal additional price….as opposed to (costly)

multiple flights for film systems Better support of classification work (eg: impervious surfaces) From the customer standpoint, often attracts additional project funds from

hydrology and natural resources (CIR is often the key here)

Combined with greater bit depth, provides much more information that allows better automated processes such as aerotriangulation, elevation data extraction, and classification


Digital – Multiple ProductsDigital – Multiple Products

Panchromatic (B&W)

Color

Color Infra-Red (CIR)


Bit DepthBit Depth

Most digital systems capture up to 12 bits/pixel (bpp) of dynamic range in each band

Film systems exhibit at most ~9 bpp in production, typically 8 bpp 12 bpp vs 8-9 bpp amounts to 8-16X more information Digital systems have much higher signal-to-noise metrics

Film is estimated at 1.5-3.0:1 – suffers from image scanning failing to recapture all of the information on film (+ scratches, lint, dirt…)

Digital is estimated at 4.0-6.0:1 The second most important advantage of digital systems Can “see into the shadows” with 12 bpp

This is generally only an advantage to production (automation and compilation) efforts

Most customers are not interested in the additional 2X storage and complicated image enhancement required – though this will change over time

Extreme advantage to automated processing involving image matching


Re-ExploitationRe-Exploitation

Film has a unique advantage – ability to re-scan imagery at higher resolutions for value-added products

Digital systems are constrained to the GSD at time of acquisition

Film example: 1:40,000 film scale can produce quality products at: 50 micrometer/pixel resolution ~= 2 meter GSD (excellent quality) 25 micrometer/pixel resolution ~= 1 meter GSD (excellent quality) 12.5 micrometer/pixel resolution ~= 0.5 meter GSD (good quality) 7 micrometer/pixel resolution ~= 1 foot GSD (marginal quality)


SuggestionsSuggestions

Define the products required (format, media, accuracy,…) and NOT the process to produce them

This encourages creativity from the mapping companies Require mapping companies to describe the processes they will use

Use an RFI (request for information) process prior to the release of the RFP (request for proposal):

Determine how mapping companies may approach the problem Re-visit product specifications Will result in a refined RFP that takes advantage of new technologies, new

processes

Emphasize performance and qualifications over pricing for the best results

2006 midamerica gis symposium options for data purchasers 26 april, 2006 craig molander senior vice...

Documents

operating costs

labor costs

utilization higher

fixed costs

dominant costs

variable costs

production costs offerings

higherperformance aircraft