May 2004

The Director's Cut

One of the keys to the continued successful growth of the EIGS Industry Cluster is the addition of new members that add to the cluster’s synergy and complement the capabilities and products of the existing members. EIGS is pleased to announce the addition of 3 new members. We look forward to working with them in building a new industry for Mississippi.

Below is a brief summary of the new members: 

DATASTAR, Inc. is a high technology, woman-owned company headquartered in Picayune, MS. DATASTAR has three business areas: 1) Government Activities; 2) Commercial activities; and 3) Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems services and products. DATASTAR provides information technology support services focusing on geospatial information systems. Services include the design, development and integration of complex geospatial enabled applications utilizing customer data. DATASTAR has approximately 50 employees. For more information, visit www.datastar.net. 

Dungan Engineering, a Mississippi Fast 40 company, currently serves as County Engineer for 5 South Mississippi counties: Marion, Walthall, Lawrence, Jefferson Davis, and Pearl River. Services include: civil engineering, geotechnical engineering, electrical power line services, GIS mapping, and land surveying. A key focus for Dungan Engineering is working with communities to help them grow smartly through the use of geospatial technology. Dungan’s primary geospatial focus areas are: 1.) addressing homeland security through the development of the “Regional E-911 Call Center” concept; 2.) Modernization of county tax mapping procedures for improved community planning and cross-governmental data sharing; and 3.) Rural utility consolidation to improve water quality and wastewater treatment. For more information, visit www.dunganeng.com. 

Photo Map Technologies (PMT) of Madison, MS, is a privately held firm that is both a producer of GIS products and a provider of GIS services. PMT focuses on building user-friendly applications combined with valuable geographics data that allows the non-traditional GIS user to create their own geographics images. PMT has developed Photo Map Mississippi, a prototypical, statewide, professional application that allows instant access to aerial photography, topographics maps, and other important geographics data layers. They have produced similar products for Arkansas and Louisiana and will soon complete statewide products for Texas and Arkansas. Additional products under development will allow layer upon layer of information to be viewed, customized, and shared by a diverse group of users. For additional information, visit www.photomaptech.com. 

To date, the geospatial industry cluster is comprised of 33 high technology companies, 6 university programs, and 2 state agencies. 

One of the biggest challenges facing the nation’s growing geospatial industry is the need for a highly skilled, well-educated and well-equipped workforce. There are many approaches to increasing the professional pool in the field of geospatial information technology, but perhaps one of the more innovative approaches is being led by the Institute for Advanced Education in Geospatial Science (IAEGS) at The University of Mississippi.

The Institute for Advanced Education in Geospatial Sciences was established in 2001 by a grant from NASA. Its mission is to develop a repository of dynamic online courseware in the field of Geospatial Information Technology to enhance the traditional university learning environment. This courseware will be delivered via the Internet which translates into anywhere, anytime delivery of educational material in an interactive, learner-centered, multi-modal environment.

Taking an innovative approach to enhancing the traditional learning process could be the motto of IAEGS. Finding new ways to use technology to strengthen the workforce of the Geospatial Information Technology field is a driving force for this EIGS Institute. Geospatial information technology is a study that incorporates remote sensing, computers, engineering, and mathematics. It is useful in such diverse fields as archeology, business, law, health care, sociology, telecommunications, and environmental sciences.

The Institute is truly an interdisciplinary undertaking with faculty and graduate students from the departments of computer science, geology, engineering, physics, chemistry, journalism, and art working to develop material into a state-of-the-art, interactive learning environment, and delivering it to community colleges and universities.

To effectively deliver its products, IAEGS has reached out beyond academia and forged relationships with some key players including: Research Systems Inc. (RSI), a division of Kodak Company and the developer of ENVI; Leica GeoSystems, developer of ERDAS; and Pixoneer, developer of the software program PG Streamer. These companies are working with IAEGS to distribute their software at reduced costs, essentially cheaper than the cost of a traditional textbook. This will provide opportunities for diverse socio-economic groups to participate in the courses and to learn very sophisticated software packages which are essential tools in the field of geospatial information technology.

For more information, visit www.geoworkforce.olemiss.edu or contact Dr. Pamela Lawhead, Director of IAEGS at lawhead@cs.olemiss.edu or 662-915-3900.

Graduate Fellow Feature 

Amanda Nelson, originally from Moss Point, Mississippi, is currently a second year EIGS/NASA Graduate Fellow enrolled at Mississippi State University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering from MSU. Her distinctions include Golden Key National Honor Society, President’s/Dean’s Scholar, and Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society. Amanda’s project, “Inundation Maps of the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” is under the guidance of Dr. Alex Thomasson of the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department. 

Amanda’s project addresses the natural processes and human-induced changes along coastal regions that impact residents, property, the economy, and safety. The focus area is the three counties along the Mississippi Gulf Coast which has been affected by hurricane storm surges and extensive flooding for years. This study uses past hurricane data and incorporates it with remote sensing and GIS to establish inundation boundary lines that are superimposed on USGS Quad maps. This methodology can assist in developing hurricane evacuation routes, determining flood-plain management protocols, mapping wetlands, and demonstrating how to estimate wetland loss due to relative sea-level rise. 

MSU GRI Provides Business-Building Resources for EIGS Industry Cluster

To effectively serve the needs of the growing industry cluster in Mississippi, EIGS utilizes many statewide resources and organizations supporting geospatial research and activities. Through the engagement of partnerships with academia, government, business and other organizations, EIGS is making use of a host of complementary talents, expertise, facilities, and personnel to enhance geospatial research, business opportunities, education, and workforce development.

One such organization is the GeoResources Institute (GRI) at Mississippi State University, which recently expanded its operations at the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC). With a continuous presence at SSC for nearly forty years, MSU has long been recognized as a major resource for research in remote sensing, computer engineering, “middleware” development for complex meteorology and oceanographic datasets, as well as for in-depth biological research of the coastal wetlands and the Gulf of Mexico. The GRI-Stennis operation also provides software engineering, computer modeling, and applications development services relating to other geospatial and computer sciences. 

The GeoResources Institute has been active in providing technical and business-building resources for the EIGS industry cluster since its inception, working with member companies to create and expand their businesses, and performing research projects for EIGS. Examples include cooperative field research and demonstration programs with DigitalGlobe’s agriculture and civil government groups, operational support of WorldWinds’ ocean forecasting and meteorology business, in the development and expansion of GeoData Airborne Mapping and Measurements, Inc.’s aerial imaging programs, visual demonstrations of Risk Management Planning’s CityScape product, and in the acquisition and analysis of multispectral and hyperspectral datasets that have been made available to EIGS members.

GRI continues its work with a variety of airborne and satellite sensor systems, including radar and lidar, offering extensive experience in remote sensing, data analysis, data mining, geolibrary development, visualization of very large datasets, and computational simulation of high data-density events. These “cross-cutting” technologies apply to environmental issue management, agriculture and forestry, invasive species management, prediction and modeling of wild populations, infrastructure planning and management, wetlands management, water quality and quantity prediction, and a range of other areas.

Based in the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center (ERC) at MSU, the GRI campus organization includes the former Remote Sensing Technologies Center, Mississippi’s Water Resources Research Institute, the Advanced Spatial Technologies in Agriculture group, the Computational Geospatial Technologies Center, and the Visualization, Analysis, and Imaging laboratory. These organizations, along with the professional capabilities of GRI-Stennis, provide a concentrated level of expertise in the geospatial sciences. For additional information about the GeoResources Institute, visit www.gri.msstate.edu, or contact Dr. Jon Arvik, Director at 228-688-1103 or jarvik@gri.msstate.edu. 

Company Spotlight

Air-O-Space 
International

You’re walking down the street of Picayune, Mississippi, and something flying through the air catches your attention. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a UAV flying a mission for the Picayune Police Department. Huh? What is a UAV? And what is it doing for law enforcement? 

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, better known as UAVs, are being used in a unique partnership between Air-O-Space International and the Picayune Police Department to conduct information gathering and surveillance to combat drug activity in Picayune. Authorities say the Picayune Police Department is one of the first agencies in the United States to use unmanned aircraft to combat crime. 

The planes can be used to look for marijuana fields, gather video surveillance and get to otherwise inaccessible areas. The UAVs can also be used to inspect hazardous situations, disasters and aid in searches for missing persons. The small size and low noise output of the aircraft allows it to fly over a sight and obtain data without being detected.

The planes, ranging in size from small to medium to large, can be used to collect information where it would otherwise be unsafe. In addition, the planes are cost effective, costing less to fly than a fixed-wing airplane or a helicopter. UAVs can fly over an area and gather information via still pictures and video, which are transmitted back to authorities on the ground. They can be flown by remote control or by autopilot and can fly very low, at tree-top level, or fly as high as 2,000 feet. Additionally, the planes can take off from a variety of areas or can even be hand-thrown like a javelin.

According to Lt. Joel Hudson of the Picayune Police Department, the partnership has proven to be an immediate and tremendous benefit to their investigators. In early 2004, a surveillance flight was made that provided invaluable intelligence. A short flight over a specific area of the city provided investigators with information that proved essential to the success of their mission. The investigators had been conducting a several month investigation into the distribution of narcotics from a set of apartments at the end of a long dead end street. The street is approximately ½ mile long and was thought to be nearly impossible to approach on the ground without being detected. The aerial surveillance revealed a safe and effective route of approach to the rear of the apartments. This allowed investigators to stealthily approach and conduct surveillance on the location and as a result, they have been able to build several felony cases against suspected narcotics dealers, which have led to their arrest. “This intelligence would have been impossible to obtain without the use of aerial surveillance and numerous drug dealers may have been able to continue to commit crimes,” said Hudson. 

In addition to law enforcement, Air-O-Space is using UAV technology in a variety of other markets. UAVs were used to develop a product for the Bridges Golf Course in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, that included golf yardage books comprised of aerial photography, video fly through of golf holes for marketing and tournament use, and multispectral imagery for natural resource management. Additionally, Air-O-Space has worked with the agriculture industry to evaluate the use of remotely sensed data collected by UAVs to identify and determine site specific precision agriculture management practices aimed at increasing productivity in sweet potato farming. 

Air-O-Space International, one of the seven charter members of the Mississippi geospatial industry cluster established in 1998, is a wholly owned subsidiary of GB Tech, Inc. Air-O-Space specializes in providing high resolution aerial remote sensing acquisition, data processing, and laboratory services to NASA, the federal government, academia, and commercial customers. For more information, visit www.gbtech.net. 

If you have suggestions for future SPOTLIGHTS, please send an e-mail to lstone@olemiss.edu.

Be sure to visit the new EIGS website at

www.eigs.olemiss.edu

UPCOMING EVENTS

May 4-6, 2004
2004 Mississippi Hurricane Conference
Biloxi, MS. For more information: 
Phone (601) 960-9972 

May 5, 2004 
Breakfast Seminar: Market to the Federal Government.  Vienna, VA.  For more information: Phone (703) 925-3381

May 10-12, 2004
The 5th Annual Coastal Development Strategies Conference
Biloxi, MS

May 10-12, 2004. 
2nd Annual Contracting with the Department of Homeland Security.
Arlington, VA

May 23-28, 2004
2004 ASPRS Annual Conference
Denver, CO

June 11, 2004
ESRI: ArcGIS 9 Seminar
Jackson, MS.  

June 14-17, 2004
Mississippi Association of Supervisors’ 75th Annual Conference.  Tunica County, MS. 
For more information: Phone (601) 353-2741

August 9-13, 2004
ESRI International User Conference
San Diego, CA

October 17-20, 2004 
Mississippi 911 Coordinators Association Annual Training Conference.  Tunica Resorts, MS  For more information: 662-363-4012

LEGISLATIVE CORNER

SB 3126- Appropriation bill for the Mississippi Development Authority- provides state funds to support EIGS;

Latest action (April 28): 
Bill returned to conference with the following designees assigned-
Senate- Gordon, Kirby, Flowers
House- Stringer, Peranich, Jennings

DID YOU KNOW???

EIGS membership consists of private companies, university research programs, and state agencies. See the list below for the diversity of the the members:

3001, Inc. * AeroAstro * Aerotec, LLC * Agricultural Information Management * 
Air-O-Space International * Applied Geo Technologies * Concurrent Technologies Corporation * DATASTAR * Diamond Data Systems of MS * Digital Globe * Digital Media * Digital Quest, Incorporated * Dungan Engineering * 
EMC Surveying & Mapping * Forest One * GB Tech * General Dynamics-AIS * GeoData Airborne Mapping & Measurement * GeoDigital Mapping * Geo Tek * Geospatial Insights * Global Photogrammetric Surveyors * Intelligent Transportation Systems Program * InTime * MapSAT * Mid-South Ag Data * MS Department of Environmental Quality * MS State University Extension Service * NA Datanet * NASA Space Grant Consortium * National Institute for Undersea Science & Technology * National Remote Sensing and Space Law Center * Northrop Grumman Information Technology * Nvision Solutions, Inc. * Ocean Technologies * Planning Systems Incorporated * Photo Map Technologies * PixSell * Radiance Technologies * Risk Management Planning * The Institute for Advanced Education in Geospatial Sciences * The UM Geoinformatics Center * Waggoner Engineering * WorldWinds *

EIGS Press Releases

NVision Solutions Puts High Tech Twist on Bird Watching
April 8, 2004, Stennis Space Center, MS --- Using high technology for bird watching? Seems like an unlikely fit, unless you’re Don Peyton of NVision Solutions who found a way to combine his livelihood with his family’s hobby. The innovative result, BirdVision, is a stand-alone Windows application that incorporates the use of remote sensing and GIS technology into the world of birding…::MORE::

WorldWinds Providing Critical Weather Information to XM Radio
April 7, 2004, NASA Stennis Space Center, MS --- From an operation right here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, WorldWinds, Inc. is providing critical, time-sensitive weather data that is saving lives and resources. WxWorx, Inc. in conjunction with XM Satellite Radio Inc. is using data gathered by WorldWinds to bring the most comprehensive satellite data to over 235 million people. This advanced weather service, XM WX Satellite Weather, delivers real-time, detailed, graphical weather data to mobile users in the marine, aviation, and emergency management markets… ::MORE:: 

DigitalGlobe Unveils Plans for Next-Generation Spacecraft Constellation
March 25, 2004, Stennis Space Center, MS -- DigitalGlobe® unveiled details of the company’s next-generation imaging satellite, WorldView. The new satellite, set to launch no later than 2006, will be the world’s highest resolution commercial imaging satellite with better agility, accuracy and collection capacity than any other known commercial system. The WorldView imaging system will allow DigitalGlobe to substantially expand its imagery product offerings to both commercial and government customers worldwide….::MORE::

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