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Πέμπτη 7 Ιανουαρίου 2016

First Ever Digital Geologic Map of Alaska Published



A new digital geologic map of Alaska is being released today providing land users, managers and scientists geologic information for the evaluation of land use in relation to resource extraction, conservation, natural hazards and recreation.

The map gives visual context to the abundant mineral and energy resources found throughout the state in a beautifully detailed and accessible format.

“I am pleased that Alaska now has a state-wide digital map detailing surface geologic features of this vast region of the United States that is difficult to access,” said Suzette Kimball, USGS newly-confirmed director. “This geologic map provides important information for the mineral and energy industries for exploration and remediation strategies. It will enable resource managers and land management agencies to evaluate resources and land use, and to prepare for natural hazards, such as earthquakes.”

“The data contained in this digital map will be invaluable,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “It is a great resource and especially enhances the capacity for science-informed decision making for natural and cultural resources, interpretive programs, and visitor safety.”

“A better understanding of Alaska’s geology is vital to our state’s future. This new map makes a real contribution to our state, from the scientific work it embodies to the responsible resource production it may facilitate. Projects like this one underscore the important mission of the U.S. Geological Survey, and I’m thankful to them for completing it,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

This map is a completely new compilation, carrying the distinction of being the first 100 percent digital statewide geologic map of Alaska. It reflects the changes in our modern understanding of geology as it builds on the past. More than 750 references were used in creating the map, some as old as 1908 and others as new as 2015. As a digital map, it has multiple associated databases that allow creation of a variety of derivative maps and other products.

“This work is an important synthesis that will both increase public access to critical information and enhance the fundamental understanding of Alaska's history, natural resources and environment,” said Mark Myers, Commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources. “I applaud the collaborative nature of this effort, including the input provided by the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, which will be useful for natural disaster preparation, resource development, land use planning and management, infrastructure and urban planning and management, education, and scientific research.”


Geologists and resource managers alike can utilize this latest geologic map of Alaska, and a lay person can enjoy the colorful patterns on the map showing the state’s geologic past and present.

More than other areas of the United States, Alaska reflects a wide range of past and current geologic environments and processes. The map sheds light on the geologic past and present. Today, geologic processes are still very important in Alaska with many active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes, receding and advancing glaciers and visible climate impacts.

“This map is the continuation of a long line of USGS maps of Alaska, reflecting ever increasing knowledge of the geology of the state,” said Frederic Wilson, USGS research geologist and lead author of the new map. “In the past, starting in 1904, geologic maps of Alaska were revised once a generation; this latest edition reflects major new mapping efforts in Alaska by the USGS and the Alaska state survey, as well as a revolution in the science of geology through the paradigm shift to plate tectonics, and the development of digital methods. Completion of this map celebrates the 200th anniversary of world's first geologic map by William Smith of England in 1815.” 



The Alaska Geologic Map shows the generalized geology of the state, each color representing a different type or age of rock. This map detail, of the Anchorage area, shows the city spread out on a plain of loose glacial deposits shown in yellow, and the bedrock making up the hillsides of Anchorage shown in green and brown. The rocks shown in green, called the Valdez Group, are sedimentary rocks formed in a trench 65 to 75 million years ago from thousands of undersea debris flows similar to the modern Aleutian trench where oceanic crust dives under continental crust (a subduction zone). The rocks shown in brown on the map are a chaotic mix of rock types called the McHugh Complex that were also formed about the same time, adjacent to this ancient subduction zone. Some time after deposition of the Valdez Group, hot fluids formed gold-bearing quartz veins; the veins were mined starting in the 1890's. The rocks were pushed up, and attached (accreted) to North America through plate tectonic forces in the past 65 million years. The dotted line passing through the east side of Anchorage is the approximate trace of the Border Ranges Fault system, the boundary between the accreted rocks and the rest of the continent.



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Δευτέρα 14 Δεκεμβρίου 2015

Finding Where U.S. Forests Have Been Undisturbed for a Quarter Century



Forest in Yellowstone National Park

Dr. Chengquan Huang is a Research Professor in the University of Maryland’s Geographical Sciences Department. This afternoon at the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting, Dr. Huang presented a poster explaining where to find U.S. forests that have been undisturbed for last 25 years. His research relied on Landsat to both find these forests and understand forest disturbance trends in the U.S.




Figure 1. High concentrations of undisturbed forests are distributed mostly in the northeast, north central, and western U.S., often along ecoregion boundaries. Image credit: Huang et al.

Presentation title:Where are the forests in the United States “not disturbed” over a quarter century?

Figure 2. Percent forest remaining undisturbed (PFUD) within a time interval decreased following an exponential decay function in the conterminous U.S. and each of its four regions as the time interval increased. Image credit: Huang et al.


  • About 1.7 million square kilometers, or two thirds of 2.6 million square kilometers of forest in the conterminous U.S. did not experience any detectable natural or anthropogenic disturbance during the quarter century between 1986 and 2010 (see figure 1)
  • The northern states in the eastern U.S. have the highest percentage of forest remaining undisturbed, while those in the south have the lowest values
  • At any given time interval, the percentage of forest remaining undisturbed decreases following an exponential decay function as the time interval increases (see figure 2)
  • If forest disturbance rates remain relatively stable over time, the conterminous U.S. would have less than 20% forest remaining undisturbed in 100 years, which would become less than 4% in 200 years
  • Management approaches aimed at reducing timber harvest rates in the south and mitigating fire risks in the west are needed in order to maintain higher levels of undisturbed forests.


What insight did you gain from Landsat that would have been impossible to glean otherwise?

  • Without Landsat, we wouldn’t be able quantify the amount of forest undisturbed over multiple decades at local, regional, state, and national scales;
  • We wouldn’t be able to reveal that the percentage of forest remaining undisturbed at any given time interval decreases following an exponential decay function as the time interval increases, and therefore wouldn’t be able to estimate how much forest would remain undisturbed over multiple centuries.

What are the major implications of your findings?

  • Old growth forests (> 100-200 years): mostly in the north and west, very little in the south, may constrain the distribution of species that favor old growth forests;
  • Forest carbon stock: because old growth forests typically have higher carbon density than young forests, the south have more potential to increase its forest carbon stock than other forested regions in conterminous U.S.;
  • Management approaches aimed at reducing timber harvest rates in the south and mitigating fire risks in the west are needed in order to increase and maintain higher levels of undisturbed forests.

Κυριακή 6 Δεκεμβρίου 2015

Detailed maps of forest canopy height and carbon stock for the conterminous US



The Woods Hole Research Center has released the first hectare-scale maps of canopy height, above-ground biomass, and associated carbon stock for the forests and woodlands of the conterminous United States. The multi-year project, referred to as the National Biomass and Carbon Dataset (NBCD), produced maps of these key forest attributes at an unprecedented spatial resolution of 30 m.



According to Dr. Josef Kellndorfer, who led the project at WHRC, "We are excited about the completion of this mapping project. The dataset represents a comprehensive assessment of forest structure and carbon stock within the lower 48 States at the beginning of the third millennium, providing an important baseline with which to improve our understanding of the United States forest resources and its link to the terrestrial carbon flux in North America. This dataset will be useful to foresters, wildlife ecologists, resource managers, and scientists alike."

Volker Radeloff, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, added, "Vegetation structure data has been the holy grail for biodiversity science: absolutely essential, but unattainable for large areas. The NBCD data set fills this crucial gap and will advance of our understanding of why biodiversity is so much higher in some areas than others, and target biodiversity conservation efforts."

The project was initiated in 2005 with funding from NASA's Terrestrial Ecology Program as well as support from the USGS/LANDFIRE consortium. Collaborators included the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program, and the National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2001) and National Elevation Dataset (NED) project teams at the USGS EROS Data Center.

To produce this first-of-its-kind data set, NASA space-borne imagery (SRTM/Landsat-7), land use/land cover information (NLCD 2001), topographic survey data (NED), and extensive forest inventory data (FIA) were combined. Production of the NBCD followed an ecoregional mapping zone approach developed for the NLCD 2001 project. Across 66 individual mapping zones, spatial data, field observations, and statistical models were used to generate the canopy height, aboveground biomass, and carbon stock maps, which were then joined to form national-scale products.

"This effort is an excellent example of FIA partnering to marry ground and remotely-sensed data to provide natural resource information at resolutions much finer than the FIA sampling frame," said Dennis May, Forest Inventory and Analysis program manager with the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station.

Dr. Wayne Walker, a Center scientist who also worked on the project, added, "Maps of key forest attributes like canopy height and carbon stock have not existed for the U.S. at this level of spatial detail and consistency. They will provide ecologists and land managers with new and better information to support biodiversity conservation, wildfire risk assessment, and timber production while helping climate scientists and others to better understand the role that U.S. forests play in the global carbon cycle."

According to Kellndorfer, "This dataset will advance our understanding of the United States natural resources, provide an invaluable circa year 2000 baseline against which to assess changes in the future, and help to improve our understanding of the drivers for change, and thus supporting good decision making. Naturally we are keen to produce the next generation data sets of this kind to assess in detail how carbon stock and forest structures are changing in this country, and internationally. We look forward to working¬¬ with an ever growing community of colleagues in the U.S. and abroad on pushing the science of understanding the World's forests forward."

Dr. Kellndorfer's research focuses on the monitoring and assessment of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and the dissemination of Earth observation findings to policy makers through education and capacity building. Using geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and modeling, he studies land-use, land cover and climate change on a regional and global scale. His projects include carbon and biomass mapping of the United States, mapping forest cover across the tropical forested regions of Africa, Latin and Asia through the generation of consistent data sets of high-resolution, cloud-free radar imagery. He is a Senior Scientist at the Center. Before joining the WHRC, Kellndorfer was a research scientist with the Radiation Laboratory in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He holds a diploma degree in physical geography and a doctorate in geosciences from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany. He serves on various expert working groups within NASA, the Group on Earth Observation, and GOFC-GOLD addressing forest carbon measurements in vegetation from remote sensing with existing and future remote sensing and field measurements.

Dr. Walker is an ecologist and remote sensing specialist interested in applications of satellite imagery to the assessment and monitoring of temperate and tropical ecosystems at regional to global scales. His research focuses on measuring and mapping forest structural attributes, land cover/land use change and terrestrial carbon stocks in support of habitat management, ecosystem conservation and carbon-cycle science. He is committed to building institutional capacity in the tools and techniques used to measure and monitor forests, working in collaboration with governments, NGOs and indigenous communities across the tropics. He is an Assistant Scientist at the Center. Walker holds degrees in forest ecology (M.S.) and remote sensing (Ph.D.) from the University of Michigan.

The digital raster data set is now freely accessible from the WHRC website atwww.whrc.org/nbcd



Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Woods Hole Research Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Article source: Science Daily

Τετάρτη 2 Δεκεμβρίου 2015

USGS Projects Large Loss of Alaska Permafrost by 2100



Using statistically modeled maps drawn from satellite data and other sources, U.S. Geological Survey scientists have projected that the near-surface permafrost that presently underlies 38 percent of boreal and arctic Alaska would be reduced by 16 to 24 percent by the end of the 21st century under widely accepted climate scenarios. Permafrost declines are more likely in central Alaska than northern Alaska.

Northern latitude tundra and boreal forests are experiencing an accelerated warming trend that is greater than in other parts of the world. This warming trend degrades permafrost, defined as ground that stays below freezing for at least two consecutive years. Some of the adverse impacts of melting permafrost are changing pathways of ground and surface water, interruptions of regional transportation, and the release to the atmosphere of previously stored carbon.

“A warming climate is affecting the Arctic in the most complex ways,” said Virginia Burkett, USGS Associate Director for Climate and Land Use Change. “Understanding the current distribution of permafrost and estimating where it is likely to disappear are key factors in predicting the future responses of northern ecosystems to climate change.”

In addition to developing maps of near-surface permafrost distributions, the researchers developed maps of maximum thaw depth, or active-layer depth, and provided uncertainty estimates. Future permafrost distribution probabilities, based on future climate scenarios produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), were also estimated by the USGS scientists. Widely used IPCC climate scenarios anticipate varied levels of climate mitigation action by the global community.

These future projections of permafrost distribution, however, did not include other possible future disturbances in the future, such as wildland fires. In general, the results support concerns about permafrost carbon becoming available to decomposition and greenhouse gas emission.

The research has been published in Remote Sensing of Environment. The current near-surface permafrost map is available via ScienceBase.

Current probability of near-surface permafrost in Alaska. Future scenarios. ( High resolution image)


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Παρασκευή 20 Νοεμβρίου 2015

US Topo Maps Reach Milestone



Updated Illinois and South Dakota maps completes second National Map revision cycle
With the release of new US Topo maps for Illinois and South Dakota, the USGS has completed the second, three-year cycle of revising and updating electronic US Topo quadrangles. This means that since late 2009, the USGS has published nearly every map in the conterminous U.S., twice.


“The USGS and NGP are proud of our history and legacy of topographic mapping in the US,” said Mike Tischler, director of the USGSNational Geospatial Program. “This latest cycle of US Topo production is a testament to the professionalism and capability of our staff and keeps that legacy alive. We've revised more than 110,000 maps in the last six years to include higher quality data across the country, and have been able to deliver those maps in an easy to use format to suit the diverse needs of our users. While reaching the end of the second-cycle is an important achievement, we look forward to the next cycle of US Topo production, and investigating emerging technologies to better serve the needs of the country.”

In the past 12 months, the production staff of the NGP has updated, revised and loaded 18,767 US Topo quads covering 18 states. That equates to the assembly, inspection and loading of nearly 75 maps per working day. Additionally, the staff created more than 635 new 1:24,000 scale maps for Alaska, as part of the Alaska Mapping Initiative. All of the new US Topo maps are digital and offered for free download, as the USGS no longer prints topographic maps using traditional printing technologies.

Other improvements to the state maps in the second-cycle include the inclusion of National Scenic Trails, “crowdsourced” trail data from theInternational Mountain Bike Association, increased parcel land data ( PLSS), and most recently, trail data from the U.S. Forest Service.

The complete new map sets for Illinois and South Dakota join Maine, Alabama, Arizona, Nebraska, Nevada, Missouri, California, Louisiana, Mississippi,New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Wyoming, and Florida as revised states for fiscal year 2015.

All of these new US Topo maps replace the first edition US Topo maps and are available for no-cost file download from The National Map, the USGS Map Locator & Downloader website , and several other USGS applications.

The first three-year production cycle ended in September 2012, and the second cycle ended in September 2015.

To compare change over time, scans of legacy USGS topo maps, some dating back to the late 1800s, can be downloaded from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.

Find more information on US Topo maps online.


This graphic represents the planned US Topo map production schedule for the next three- year revision cycle. The US Topo project repackages data from national GIS (geographic Information system) databases as traditional maps, primarily for the benefit of non-GIS users. Unlike traditional topographic maps, US Topo maps are mass-produced from secondary sources, on a programmed refresh cycle, using the best available data at the time of production. ( high resolution image 1.96 MB) As a result of the inclusion of selected National Scenic Trail data on the US Topo maps, 13 state map series now feature National Scenic Trails, and more will be added in the coming months. These trails have been established by Congress to provide for maximum outdoor recreation potential and for the conservation and enjoyment of nationally significant scenic, historic, natural, and cultural qualities of the area through which such trails may pass.

There are 11 National Scenic Trails:
  • Appalachian National Scenic Trail
  • Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail
  • Continental Divide National Scenic Trail
  • North Country National Scenic Trail
  • Ice Age National Scenic Trail
  • Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail
  • Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail
  • Florida National Scenic Trail
  • Arizona National Scenic Trail
  • New England National Scenic Trail
  • Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail( high resolution image 63.6 KB)


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Κυριακή 8 Νοεμβρίου 2015

Forest disturbance across the conterminous United States from 1985–2012: The emerging dominance of forest decline



Article by: Warren B. CohenaZhiqiang YangbStephen V. Stehmanc, Todd A. Schroederd, David M. Bella, Jeffrey G. Maseke, Chengquan Huangf, Garrett W. Meigsg,





Highlights

  • We characterized annual rates of forest disturbance between 1985 and 2012.
  • Landsat time series were visually interpreted, with support of ancillary data.
  • A probability design was used to scale estimates and provide uncertainties.
  • Harvest was the most important disturbance agent class prior to the mid-90s.
  • Forest decline is now more important than harvest as the dominant agent class.




Abstract
Evidence of shifting dominance among major forest disturbance agent classes regionally to globally has been emerging in the literature. For example, climate-related stress and secondary stressors on forests (e.g., insect and disease, fire) have dramatically increased since the turn of the century globally, while harvest rates in the western US and elsewhere have declined. For shifts to be quantified, accurate historical forest disturbance estimates are required as a baseline for examining current trends. We report annual disturbance rates (with uncertainties) in the aggregate and by major change causal agent class for the conterminous US and five geographic subregions between 1985 and 2012. Results are based on human interpretations of Landsat time series from a probability sample of 7200 plots (30 m) distributed throughout the study area. Forest disturbance information was recorded with a Landsat time series visualization and data collection tool that incorporates ancillary high-resolution data. National rates of disturbance varied between 1.5% and 4.5% of forest area per year, with trends being strongly affected by shifting dominance among specific disturbance agent influences at the regional scale. Throughout the time series, national harvest disturbance rates varied between one and two percent, and were largely a function of harvest in the more heavily forested regions of the US (Mountain West, Northeast, and Southeast). During the first part of the time series, national disturbance rates largely reflected trends in harvest disturbance. Beginning in the mid-90s, forest decline-related disturbances associated with diminishing forest health (e.g., physiological stress leading to tree canopy cover loss, increases in tree mortality above background levels), especially in the Mountain West and Lowland West regions of the US, increased dramatically. Consequently, national disturbance rates greatly increased by 2000, and remained high for much of the decade. Decline-related disturbance rates reached as high as 8% per year in the western regions during the early-2000s. Although low compared to harvest and decline, fire disturbance rates also increased in the early- to mid-2000s. We segmented annual decline-related disturbance rates to distinguish between newly impacted areas and areas undergoing gradual but consistent decline over multiple years. We also translated Landsat reflectance change into tree canopy cover change information for greater relevance to ecosystem modelers and forest managers, who can derive better understanding of forest-climate interactions and better adapt management strategies to changing climate regimes. Similar studies could be carried out for other countries where there are sufficient Landsat data and historic temporal snapshots of high-resolution imagery.

Source: Science direct

Τρίτη 3 Νοεμβρίου 2015

Detailed maps of forest canopy height and carbon stock for the conterminous US



The Woods Hole Research Center has released the first hectare-scale maps of canopy height, above-ground biomass, and associated carbon stock for the forests and woodlands of the conterminous United States. The multi-year project, referred to as the National Biomass and Carbon Dataset (NBCD), produced maps of these key forest attributes at an unprecedented spatial resolution of 30 m.


According to Dr. Josef Kellndorfer, who led the project at WHRC, "We are excited about the completion of this mapping project. The dataset represents a comprehensive assessment of forest structure and carbon stock within the lower 48 States at the beginning of the third millennium, providing an important baseline with which to improve our understanding of the United States forest resources and its link to the terrestrial carbon flux in North America. This dataset will be useful to foresters, wildlife ecologists, resource managers, and scientists alike."

Volker Radeloff, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, added, "Vegetation structure data has been the holy grail for biodiversity science: absolutely essential, but unattainable for large areas. The NBCD data set fills this crucial gap and will advance of our understanding of why biodiversity is so much higher in some areas than others, and target biodiversity conservation efforts."

The project was initiated in 2005 with funding from NASA's Terrestrial Ecology Program as well as support from the USGS/LANDFIRE consortium. Collaborators included the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program, and the National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2001) and National Elevation Dataset (NED) project teams at the USGS EROS Data Center.

To produce this first-of-its-kind data set, NASA space-borne imagery (SRTM/Landsat-7), land use/land cover information (NLCD 2001), topographic survey data (NED), and extensive forest inventory data (FIA) were combined. Production of the NBCD followed an ecoregional mapping zone approach developed for the NLCD 2001 project. Across 66 individual mapping zones, spatial data, field observations, and statistical models were used to generate the canopy height, aboveground biomass, and carbon stock maps, which were then joined to form national-scale products.

"This effort is an excellent example of FIA partnering to marry ground and remotely-sensed data to provide natural resource information at resolutions much finer than the FIA sampling frame," said Dennis May, Forest Inventory and Analysis program manager with the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station.

Dr. Wayne Walker, a Center scientist who also worked on the project, added, "Maps of key forest attributes like canopy height and carbon stock have not existed for the U.S. at this level of spatial detail and consistency. They will provide ecologists and land managers with new and better information to support biodiversity conservation, wildfire risk assessment, and timber production while helping climate scientists and others to better understand the role that U.S. forests play in the global carbon cycle."

According to Kellndorfer, "This dataset will advance our understanding of the United States natural resources, provide an invaluable circa year 2000 baseline against which to assess changes in the future, and help to improve our understanding of the drivers for change, and thus supporting good decision making. Naturally we are keen to produce the next generation data sets of this kind to assess in detail how carbon stock and forest structures are changing in this country, and internationally. We look forward to working¬¬ with an ever growing community of colleagues in the U.S. and abroad on pushing the science of understanding the World's forests forward."

Dr. Kellndorfer's research focuses on the monitoring and assessment of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and the dissemination of Earth observation findings to policy makers through education and capacity building. Using geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and modeling, he studies land-use, land cover and climate change on a regional and global scale. His projects include carbon and biomass mapping of the United States, mapping forest cover across the tropical forested regions of Africa, Latin and Asia through the generation of consistent data sets of high-resolution, cloud-free radar imagery. He is a Senior Scientist at the Center. Before joining the WHRC, Kellndorfer was a research scientist with the Radiation Laboratory in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He holds a diploma degree in physical geography and a doctorate in geosciences from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany. He serves on various expert working groups within NASA, the Group on Earth Observation, and GOFC-GOLD addressing forest carbon measurements in vegetation from remote sensing with existing and future remote sensing and field measurements.

Dr. Walker is an ecologist and remote sensing specialist interested in applications of satellite imagery to the assessment and monitoring of temperate and tropical ecosystems at regional to global scales. His research focuses on measuring and mapping forest structural attributes, land cover/land use change and terrestrial carbon stocks in support of habitat management, ecosystem conservation and carbon-cycle science. He is committed to building institutional capacity in the tools and techniques used to measure and monitor forests, working in collaboration with governments, NGOs and indigenous communities across the tropics. He is an Assistant Scientist at the Center. Walker holds degrees in forest ecology (M.S.) and remote sensing (Ph.D.) from the University of Michigan.

The digital raster data set is now freely accessible from the WHRC website atwww.whrc.org/nbcd

.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Woods Hole Research Center. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Article Source: Science Daily

Σάββατο 10 Οκτωβρίου 2015

All American immigrants on a single dot map



By Aleks Buczkowski



Kyle Walker, assistant professor of geography at Texas Christian University created an interesting project. He took data about immigrants from the latest 2010 Census and mapped region or country of origin of each and every of them. The effect is a dot-density representation of the US immigrant population.

New York

Immigrant regions include:
  • Mexico (red);
  • Latin America and the Caribbean, other than Mexico (blue);
  • East and Southeast Asia (green);
  • South & Central Asia (aqua);
  • Sub-Saharan Africa (purple);
  • North Africa & Southwest Asia (pink);
  • Europe (orange);
  • Oceania (yellow);
  • Canada (brown)

In New York, we see that the majority of Manhattan’s immigrants are European, which the East/Southeast Asian cluster on the Lower East Side and the Latin American population above Central Park. Nearly all of the Bronx is dotted dark blue for Latin America, as is northeastern Brooklyn. Northwestern Brooklyn, Northwestern Queens, and Southeastern Queens are predominantly European, while Northeastern Queens is a mix of South Asian and Latin American.

This map was inspired by similar a similar visualisation of US racial segregation. instead of each dot representing one person it represents 20, and instead of the colors representing race they indicate a native region.

Tools used to make this map? A combination of R, QGIS, ArcGIS, and Python for data processing and Mapbox for the web presentation.


Los Angeles

Chicago

Cool map.

Σάββατο 3 Οκτωβρίου 2015

Cityworks Staff Rejoins Experts at University of Wisconsin



Citywide Asset Management Course Will Now Be Offered Twice a Year


The University of Wisconsin–Madison recently announced that it will offer their “Citywide Asset Management” course bi-annually. The two-day, executive-level course is designed for mayors, city managers, controllers, city engineers, and directors of public works and features a portion taught by Ryen Tarbet, asset management practice lead with Cityworks. The next session will be held November 17–18, 2015, at the University of Wisconsin’s Fluno Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

The course is led by professor Thomas Smith, Department of Engineering Professional Development, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Smith was part of the U.S. delegation to the new ISO 55000 standard for asset management systems and is a recognized international expert on asset management.

“Citywide asset management is an important concept and offers a new level of efficiency for U.S. municipalities,” said Smith. “I was thrilled to see the level of interest in our first offering of this course and expect it to grow significantly in the coming year.”

Smith, Tarbet, and other instructors provide real-life case studies covering how to get started, organizational change, resource requirements, realistic timelines, and potential benefits and how they are measured and reported both internally and to the public.

“Presentations by expert practitioners, municipal officials, and engineering consultants brought real world, practical guidance on how to implement principles of asset management throughout our operations,” says Eric Johnston, P.E., assistant public works director of operations for the City of Bellingham, Washington. Attendees leave this two-day course with executive-level tools they can use in their own asset management program, whether it has not yet started or has been in place for years.

“The caliber of the instructors was second-to-none, with industry leaders and exemplary municipal partners,” said Jon Henderson, GIS manager for the City of Bozeman, Montana. “We were able to put the knowledge we gained into action right away, including improved governance and overall adoption by our local agency. The content was both relevant and scalable, even for a local government!”

As part of the course, Tarbet presents material covering the critical role of GIS-centric asset maintenance and life cycle data in successful asset management system design and successful long-term outcomes.

“I'm excited and grateful to be a part of the university’s executive program for citywide asset management,” said Tarbet. “I believe it is essential that city officials share a common and comprehensive understanding of what asset management is so their organizations can systematically achieve successful program outcomes. After the exceptional response to the course we offered this past spring, it is clear that GIS-centric asset maintenance and life cycle data form a critical part of the platform upon which executive-level decisions are founded.”

Citywide Asset Management will be offered November 17–18, 2015, and May 30–June 1, 2016 at University of Wisconsin–Madison. For a course brochure or to register, click here.



For further information visit: http://www.cityworks.com/2015/09/citywide-asset-management/



About Cityworks

Since 1996, Cityworks® has been streamlining the way agencies manage public infrastructure and property by combining the asset geodatabase with the business logic of agencies that care for infrastructure and property. An authoritative resource and system of record, Cityworks elevates Esri®’s ArcGIS® Location Platform specifically to manage workflow, schedule resources, and prioritize activities—saving time and improving operational efficiencies. Time-tested and proven technology, Cityworks is Empowering GIS® at more than 500 organizations around the world.

Photographs available upon request.

For more information, contact:
Camille Olsen
Communications Specialist
Cityworks® – Azteca Systems
801.523.2751
Email Contact
www.cityworks.com



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Τετάρτη 30 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

From Ireland to Germany to Italy to Mexico: How America’s Source of Immigrants Has Changed in the States, 1850 – 2013


Top country of origin by state and year

1850                      1900                                  1950                                   2000      2013






Top five foreign-born populations by country of origin in 1850 (in millions)




Total U.S. population 23.2 million
Total foreign born 2.2 million
Percent foreign born 9.7%


Note: California Territory became a state in September 1850. Alaska did not become a U.S. territory until its purchase in 1867. Hawaii became an organized territory in 1898.

Source: Estimates for the countries of origin come from Pew Research Center tabulations of the 1850 decennial census. Total population and foreign-born population estimates come from the U.S. Census Bureau, “Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850-2000.” Map source: Minnesota Population Center.

America's Top-Earning Toll Agencies



from Niall McCarthy




The 122-mile long New Jersey Turnpike has gained notoriety for its tolls. Every year, the authority running that stretch of road collects the most revenue of any toll agency in the United States - a whopping $1.4 billion. Annually, America's toll agencies take in $13 billion in revenue and the New York tri-state area accounts for nearly a third of that. Drivers in that region have to fork over about $4 billion in tolls every year.





This chart shows revenue collected by top U.S. toll agencies in 2013.

Παρασκευή 25 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

Thinknear launches a dedicated location-based advertising tool for politicians



By Aleks Buczkowski





Thinknear – the Telenav owned location-based ad network might have found an interesting niche. The company have just launched a new platform that aims to bring geomarketing into politics.

The new tool is called ThinkPolitical and it has been designed particularly to help political marketers to message voters and campaign influencers based on place, whether it’s to extract direct donations or, ultimately, get them out to vote.

It makes a lot of sense as it is estimated that spending on digital media during the 2016 political races might exceed $1 billion. Half of it will be spent at the state and local level. Thinknear suggests that with traditional adverting as much as $0.73 of every political dollar is being spent outside of a campaign’s political boundary or voting district. With the new platform the company aims to reduce that form of wasted ad spending.

The idea behind the platform is similar to how location-based ads works in any other market. Thinknear uses geo-data to understand and build deep consumer profiles. It takes into account all available data such demographic details (e.g. age, income, and gender) as well as spatio-temporal behavioral patterns to determine a person’s political preferences. Based on that the company will serve a relevant ad to particular voters. The goal might be to get donations or keep them informed directly before opponents — or “the media” — do.

I’ve got still one year to the nearest elections in the US. I guess that we’ll see a similar productions in portfolios of all major location-based advertising companies. What it shows is what every reader of Geoawesomeness knows: location matters.

Σάββατο 19 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

Explore Vintage Photos of New York, Plotted on Google Maps









It’s not uncommon to wonder what a street looked like in centuries past, and if you’re in New York City, finding that out has gotten a whole lot easier. OldNYC is a project which plots historic data from the New York Public Library collection of photographs on top of Google Maps for a rich and revealing look at the city’s changing appearance from the 1870s to the 1970s.

The project predominantly pulls from the work of Percy Loomis Sperr, who documented the massive changes to the city from the late 1920s to the early 1940s. The creators of the project tapped into the library’s Milstein Collection which houses some 80,000 original photographs of New York City.


“The creators of this site associated latitudes and longitudes to the images in the Milstein collection. This process is known as geocoding. Doing this allows the images to be placed at points on a map, which enables new ways of exploring this collection.

They also detected individual photos on the original Milstein scans and extracted them. This reduced the appearance of large borders or multiple small images.”




CADD Microsystems Earns Partner of the Quarter from Autodesk for Strong Second Quarter Performance



CADD Microsystems is recognized as a top performer among Autodesk partners


CADD Microsystems has announced that Autodesk selected the company as its Partner of the Quarter for the second quarter of fiscal year 2016. CADD Microsystems earned the accolade from a pool of more than 200 partners throughout North America, and this is the fourth time in recent years that CADD Microsystems has achieved the honor. The Partner of the Quarter award recognizes CADD Microsystems for its dedication to customer service, the growth of its operations, and its investments in the business of providing cutting-edge Autodesk solutions for the design industry.


In addition to sales performance, customer service and demonstrated industry expertise weigh heavily into the criteria for Partner of the Quarter. CADD Microsystems has consistently achieved top customer satisfaction scores among partners, and most recently scored higher than the top quartile of partners nationwide.

"CADD Microsystems achieved tremendous results in Q2, and this was a result of our customer-centric approach of partnering with our clients," saidJeff Gravatte, CEO of CADD Microsystems. "We are in this industry to collaborate and partner with our customers, not to just sell them something. And to do that, it's critical that we take the time to fully understand our clients' businesses, and their unique needs and opportunities. This philosophy has led to our continued success, stronger business relationships with our clients, and more importantly, to their continued success as well."

CADD Microsystems builds its service offering around the long-term success of its customers. With proprietary resources like the CADD Community and BIM Compliance Tools, combined with strong partnerships with additional services like Bluebeam, FM:Systems and Global eTraining, CADD Microsystems builds full solutions for its customers to support their full design workflows.

"Autodesk has enjoyed a long, successful partnership with CADD Microsystems - close to 30 years - and we continue to be impressed with their dedication to their customers and to the design industry as a whole," said Ray Savona, Vice President of Americas Sales at Autodesk. "The company's overall performance in Q2 proves that the best practices and strategic planning they have committed to are a good roadmap for continued success for both CADD Microsystems and their customers."


CADD Microsystems is an Autodesk Platinum Partner – the highest tier of the Autodesk Partner program - and incorporates Autodesk software solutions along with proven technical expertise in several industries, including AEC, building owners, land development, and manufacturing. As a Platinum partner, CADD Microsystems offers its customers best-in-class full solutions from pre- and post-sales support, consulting, training, implementation, and customization. CADD Microsystems works closely with Autodesk to help customers design, simulate and analyze their ideas, increase operational efficiencies and maximize their return on investment in Autodesk software solutions.

About CADD Microsystems 

For more than 25 years, CADD Microsystems has delivered programs, services and offerings that consistently exceed customer expectations. Our customers represent the complete spectrum of professionals in the building and infrastructure community, including architectural design professionals; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers; civil engineers; visualization designers; construction companies; GIS and mapping firms; facilities management firms and utilities in both the public and private sectors. The solutions we implement range from Building Information Modeling (BIM) to Computer Aided Design (CAD) to Facilities Management (FM) products and services. We are one of the largest providers of Autodesk products and services to the Federal government and commercial firms, and one of only a few U.S. partners designated an Autodesk Platinum partner. We've earned the prestigious Autodesk Reseller of the Year award, and nationwide customer surveys say we have the #1 Autodesk instructor in North America. But the greatest metric of our success is in our long-term customer relationships and the loyalty we've earned. Our focus is first and foremost on client needs. By helping our customers manage and execute projects flawlessly, we continue to be the company our customers want us to be. Learn more at www.caddmicrosystems.com.

Autodesk and the Autodesk logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120424/PH93728LOGO

Source

Παρασκευή 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

Red Cross Offers Interactive Tool to Access and Track Live, Wildfire Information

Free, Public Tool Consolidates Information to Provide Up-to-Date Disaster Snapshot



The American Red Cross has launched an interactive online map that consolidates multiple sources of disaster data into a real-time, interactive tool to get information and updates about the Western Wildfires. The tool is a high-tech, user-friendly visual database for media and the public to learn the size and scope of current disasters and locate services such as Red Cross shelters.


The Red Cross " Map Journal" pulls together in one location multiple layers of Geographic Information System (GIS) data from the Red Cross and government sources.

The map provides the following information:
  • Location and size of wildfires
  • Evacuation zones
  • Road Closures
  • Location, address and population of shelters
  • Where to take evacuated pets and animals (large and small)
  • Standard map elements such as counties, cities, roads, rivers and mountain ranges
  • Demographic information

The link to the resource is: http://arc-nhq-gis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=b3b9a01d09ad4ec0bea137ed96d9c4f1

"This map is one of the simplest and best ways to help people quickly grasp the very complex elements of a disaster," said Greg Tune, Senior Geospatial Technology Associate for the Red Cross. "Our hope is to make it faster and easier for people to access vital information that will help them make informed decisions and take action. That includes the public as well as our own Red Cross volunteers who are out in the field delivering help."

The Map Journal includes critical information pulled from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, InciWeb, National Shelter System (NSS), the Red Cross and other sources. Users can explore the data by zooming in and out, scrolling across the map, and clicking on data points to bring up more detailed information. Individualized bookmarks also allow users to browse information related to specific incidents such as the Butte Fire and Valley fire.

Members of the public can use the maps to access services. Red Cross workers can use the maps to help in their plans to deliver services – for example, a quick click to view road closures can help the Red Cross better plan the safest and most efficient route for response vehicles to deliver supplies.

The Map Journal leverages the power of Esri's ArcGIS Online Technology to create a customizable web mapping application that is also mobile friendly.

Although this "Map Journal" has been created specifically for the current Western Wildfires, using GIS mapping data and tools isn't new for the Red Cross – in fact, the Red Cross maintains an ongoing series of web pages providing a variety of weather, disaster and other informational maps and data year-round: http://maps.redcross.org.

GIS mapping is just one of many ways the Red Cross uses technology to improve emergency preparedness and response. These innovations include developing mobile apps that have been downloaded more than 7 million times, and using social media to help people before, during and after disasters and emergencies. Read more about other technological advances the Red Cross has made in the past 10 years:http://www.redcross.org/news/article/Red-Cross-Uses-Technology-to-Enhance-Disaster-Preparedness-and-Response.

About the American Red Cross: 

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.orgor visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090108/RedCrossLOGO



SOURCE 

Τετάρτη 9 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

LandScan 2014 Global Population Database Released by East View



East View is pleased to announce our worldwide release of the LandScan 2014 Global Population Database.

LandScan is developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the United States Department of Defense. Annually updated since the year 2000, this represents the 16th version of LandScan.

This award-winning database provides the ambient population distribution at a high resolution of one square kilometer covering all inhabited land mass on Earth.

For this new release, very special attention was given to Ukraine and the Middle East where ongoing conflict has presented significant challenges for calculating the population distribution values.

East View is the exclusive worldwide distributor of LandScan, fulfilling the population data needs of individual researchers, academic institutions, government agencies, humanitarian organizations and businesses around the world.

Notable improvements in this new release include:
  • Updated results from the 2010-2014 rounds of census activities for numerous countries were integrated into this new version of LandScan, significantly refining the population distribution.
  • Population totals and distributions of Ukraine, Syria and Iraq were adjusted to account for internally displaced people and refugee movement as of May 2015.
  • Results from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's "LandScan HD" database, recently developed at a high resolution of 3 arc-seconds, were aggregated and incorporated into the LandScan 2014 Global Population Database for specific national and regional areas.
  • Imagery provided by the NGA from Digital Globe and other high-resolution imagery sources was used extensively for verification and validation to improve the spatial precision and values of the population distribution. 

ABOUT EAST VIEW COMPANIES
East View was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. East View is comprised of East View Information Services (www.eastview.com), East View Geospatial ( www.geospatial.com) and East View Map Link ( www.maplink.com). East View maintains thousands of supplier/publisher relationships throughout the world for maps and geospatial data and Russian, Arabic and Chinese-produced social and hard science content. East View manages a data center, library and warehouse in Minneapolis where it hosts and stores dozens of foreign language databases, hundreds of thousands of maps and atlases and millions of geospatial, Russian, Chinese and Arabic metadata records. Uncommon Information. Extraordinary Places.

Δευτέρα 7 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

Tracking surface water quality in the Great Lakes region



By Stefan Mühlbauer



The constant monitoring of surface water quality can be challenging particularly if the water body extension is large and if the assessment is based on in-situ measurements. In this case the information of several sample gauges has to be combined and an area-wide estimation has to be made for instance by geostatistical methods. Remote sensing presents a valueable alternative to easily and regularly monitor large water surfaces at a modest time and cost expenditure.

The problem of bad water quality
Algae blooms are the most obvious sign of a bad water quality threatening drinking water, aquacultural farms and the public welfare. They are a very clear warning to react and stop harmful impacts into a water body. However, a significant bloom was recently forecasted for Lake Erie: NOAA predicts that this year’s blooms will be “among the most severe in recent years” and will peak in September (NOAA-News).

Monitoring water surface quality of oceans
A company that is specialized in monitoring water surfaces and water depth from space is EOMAP, based in Munich, Germany. So far the activity concentrated on Asian waters (great Barrier Reef, South China Sea, Red Sea, etc.), where EOMAP has been producing water quality maps, satellite-based bachimetry products, habitat and seafloor classifications as well as terrestrial monitoring. Many of the sites of work concern ecologically vulnerable areas such as coral reefs or mangroves.

From salty to sweet waters
Besides that, EOMAP also tracks the quality of lake surfaces. In this regard the company has recently developed an algae bloom monitoring program for the Great Lakes region. The bloom is now tracked daily and provides free online access through http://eoapp-us.eomap.com/.

EOMAP also tracks the vast number of smaller lakes and coastal waters globally using its multi-satellite monitoring system and displays this data on the eoApp web application. Aside from single, daily products, the application also provides spatially and temporally aggregated data: daily means (D’mean) and moving, weekly means (M’mean).

The eoapp monitoring system allows for tracking blue algae blooms and relevant water quality parameters such as chlorophyll and turbidity. Various US and European satellite sensors are imbedded into this first globally harmonized monitoring system, supporting daily monitoring at continental scales, historical reviews up to 30 years back in time and highest spatial resolutions for ponds, small lakes and rivers. Matt Bergin, Vice President of business Development at EOMAP states that ‘EOMAP supports European and US research initiatives to understand and forecast harmful algae blooms. The heavy bloom in 2015 was already well detected and well accessible through eoApp. The algorithm developed by EOMAP detects blue algae containing phycocyanin pigments. It is imbedded into the proprietary, state-of-the-art satellite data processors of EOMAP, which already are installed in several satellite receiving and archiving centers to support the most cost efficient and fast production.’

Tablet PC with GPS in original design. Vector


The HAB Indicator is an indicator for the probability of algae blooms to occur. The map shows the moving mean of the last seven days for the Lake Erie. Source: eoAPP US


Turbidity map of the Lake Erie (moving mean of the last seven days). Source: eoAPP US


Τετάρτη 2 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015

This map shows how American cities are racially segregated



By Aleks Buczkowski



At Geoawesomeness openness and tolerance are our key values. Our team members come from different continents, countries and cultures. And we are definitely proud of our diversity.

From a spatial perspective it is interesting to observe social geography of a diverse society like the one in the U.S. Although statistically the social inequality and segregation on a racial level is lower than ever before, the new interactive map created by Dustin Cable from University of Virginia shows that it’s for from being perfect.

The map shows one dot per person, color-coded by race. In total 308,745,538 dots coming from 2010 U.S. Census. Blue dots are placed for people who identify themselves as white, green for black people, red for Asian, orange for Hispanic and brown for those who identify themselves as from another race, Native American, or multiracial.


Even on the small-scale map one can observe that there are some significant differences depending on the city and state. In New York for example we can observe a big diversity with a centres of particular race spatially mixed.


Some American cities, largely those on the East Coast, have a very clear division between white and black. The example below is Detroit, were we can see a clear line dividing the city on “8 mile”.


It isn’t the first map to show the country’s ethnic distribution, nor is it the first to show every single citizen, but it is the first to do both, making it the most comprehensive map of race in America ever created. Today when we hear about racial tensions among communities, police forces, and elected officials almost everyday understanding this local tensions is even more important… and again showing the spatial layer of the phenomena gives it a totally new perspective.

This is why we love maps.

source: Racial Dot Map

Κυριακή 30 Αυγούστου 2015

DesignSense Signs Up CADREBEL.COM as its GeoTools-CADPower distributor in the US








August 26th, 2015: Bangalore-India & San Clementa, CA-USA - DesignSense Software Technologies today officially announces CADREBEL.com as its United States distributor for its CAD products – GeoTools & CADPower.

"Our goal is to make our clients successful by reducing its the cost and complexity of engineering" said Mr. Nainar Ramaswamy, Managing Director of DesignSense Software explaining about the purpose of this software.

CADPower is a general purpose CAD productivity tool that runs on the BricsCAD and AutoCAD platforms. It offers over 250+ tools for productivity and process, ranging from advanced Polyline management, Annotations, Bill of Quantities and Estimation, Reporting, Querying and extracting commonly required information from standard .dwg data.

GeoTools offer CAD tools for the geo-data user, ranging from coordinate annotations, drawing of map grids, coordinate conversion, Civil tools, Google Earth interaction and so on.

“Both products have one single goal in mind – to eliminate difficult, repetitive & boring tasks by automating & packaging them into defined workflows that the software plays out for you” said Rakesh Rao, Chief Architect of the products.

“GeoTools & CADPower offer light-weight, easy to use solutions that complement BricsCAD nicely and extends its power significantly” said Serge Jonnert of CADREBEL. “With a proven history of 16 years in the CAD market, these are established products already and now available on BricsCAD”.


DesignSense Software Technologies:
DesignSense Software Technologies Private Limited is a global software product company engaged in developing solutions for simplifying the entire life-cycle of design and engineering processes.

Its area of interest and domains include AEC & GIS-CAD productivity solutions, Tool Design, mobile/desktop & cloud-driven apps for the design community.

# 282/C, 10th Main, 5th Block, Jayanagar, Bengaluru – 560041, India

CADREBEL - TENSEI LLC:
CADREBEL provides affordable desktop, mobile, and cloud based technologies for innovation and design management in AEC, construction, civil, road, landscape, sheet metal, and mechanical design, as well solutions to meet regulatory requirements in medical devices, pharma, aerospace, energy, oil and gas.

Tensei LLC – CADREBEL is the official US distributor for Bricsys products for Southern California, Southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Hawaii.

tensei LLC, 15 Calle Almeja, San Clemente, CA 92673, USA


Contact:
Rakesh Rao
Director
DesignSense Software Technologies Private Limited, Bangalore-INDIA
Cell: +91-9243438300 Blog: Smarter .dwg CAD

Σάββατο 29 Αυγούστου 2015

AUVSI, CEA: Drone Restrictions Would Hurt Californians, Innovation



The following statement is attributed to Brian Wynne, president and CEO, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), and Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, regarding the passage of California Senate Bill 142, which would restrict the flight of unmanned aerial systems (UAS):

“California SB 142 is an unnecessary, innovation-stifling and job-killing proposal. As consumers and businesses alike continue to adopt drones for personal and professional use, we agree issues of privacy should be addressed. This legislation, however, is the wrong approach. SB 142 would damage California’s leadership and handcuff innovation, just as this largely California-based and dynamically expanding industry is poised to bring major job growth to the state – adding roughly 18,000 new jobs and more than $14 billion in economic impact in the first decade once federal guidelines are implemented.

“SB 142 may look like a privacy bill, but it would open the door to a new class of frivolous lawsuits in California and create inconsistencies with federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court long ago ruled that property rights do not extend infinitely into the sky. In other words, only the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can regulate airspace; states and municipalities cannot. Additionally, the legislation does not contain any commercial, research or educational exemption – a serious concern as major companies are poised to invest billions in this technology and provide exciting new services to consumers. And the 350-foot flight limit SB 142 would impose is arbitrary, rather than based on the realities of UAS operation.

“Drones hold the power to create new businesses, improve our lives and transform the way we do business. The safe integration of UAS into our transportation system will displace noisy trucks, reduce urban traffic and cut our fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Drones also will allow for game-changing innovations such as the faster delivery of life-saving diagnostics and medicine, improved crop production and efficiency, and safer work environments for those performing building and bridge maintenance.

“The FAA is now developing regulations to incorporate UAS into the national airspace – rules that should arrive very soon. The California State Legislature should not disrupt this process with artificial statutory restrictions while the FAA process moves toward a conclusion. We hope Governor Brown will recognize the overreach of the Legislature and allow this flourishing industry to succeed and thrive in California.”


AUVSI spearheads and CEA is a supporting member of the UAS safety campaign “ Know Before You Fly,” which provides prospective UAS operators with the information and guidance they need to fly safely and responsibly.

About AUVSI: The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International is the world's largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to advancing the unmanned systems and robotics community. Serving more than 7,500 members from government organizations, industry and academia, AUVSI is committed to fostering, developing, and promoting unmanned systems and robotic technologies. AUVSI members support defense, civil and commercial sectors.

About CEA: The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the technology trade association representing the $285 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative and regulatory advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Find CEA online at CE.org,InnovationMovement.com and through social media:http://www.ce.org/social.




Contact:

AUVSI
Tom McMahon
571-255-7786
Email Contact
www.auvsi.org
or
CEA
Tyler Suiters
703-907-7654
Email Contact
www.CE.org