GIS: the greater extent - Surveying on the Ground to Help Mappers in the Air

摘要

A photogrammetric mapping company explains how surveyors play a key role in the creation of aerial imagery. The photogrammetry industry in the United States received a big boost after World War II, when returning pilots, camera operators, and photo-interpreters provided a large pool of personnel who were able to transfer their skills and experience into civilian occupations. In 1949, one of these veterans, H.G. Chickering, opened one of the first photogrammetric mapping companies in the Western United States in Eugene, Oregon. Now called 3Di West and owned by six of its current and former senior managers, it has five departments: photogrammetry, orthophotography, editing, mapping, and GIS. "We focus on high accuracy work," says Bret Hazell, the company's president. "We do a lot of engineer-grade 20-, 50-, 100-scale mapping and feature data collection."