Bangor, ME – Kappa Mapping, Inc. recently received the Small Projects award for its project Color Infrared Imagery Makes Accurate Vernal Pool Mapping Possible in Bar Harbor, Maine as part of the third annual Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards competition.
The Bangor-based firm was recognized by MAPPS, a national association of photogrammetry, mapping, and geospatial firms, November 18 at the 2009 ASPRS/MAPPS Specialty Conference held in San Antonio, Texas. Judges evaluated 13 projects in five categories.
“We’re honored to receive this award for our work in Bar Harbor,” said Claire Kiedrowski, president of Kappa Mapping, Inc. “The project provided an excellent opportunity for us to use high-end mapping hardware and software and to work with the latest technologies in digital mapping. It’s an exciting time to be in the business of making images.”
According to Robert Burch PS, CP (Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan), chairman of the independent judges panel, the group selected Kappa because its project required complex cooperation among a team of firms and its project outcome dramatically helped the city of Bar Harbor better manage conflicts between environmental protection of vernal pools and property development rights.
“Kappa provided aerotriangulation and imagery data in true color and color infrared and worked with two professional firms and the town of Bar Harbor to produce the pyramid layers that were then used by one of the other vendors to create stereo mapping of vernal pools in the area,” said Burch.
Merrick & Company received the Grand Award and MAPPS named five award winners, including Kappa Mapping, Inc., in technical categories. The others were Intermap Technologies for Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition, Photo Science for GIS/IT, Optech Technologies for Technology Innovation, and Merrick & Company for Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Generation.
"Once again, MAPPS member firms have demonstrated the professionalism, innovation, and societal benefit that the private geospatial community provides to enhance our quality of life," said MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello. "Kappa Mapping is to be commended and congratulated not only on this award, but on their excellent service to their client, the Town of Bar Harbor."
Judges for the program included Burch; Dr. Pamela Lawhead, Associate Professor at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi; Dr. Adrian Moore, an economist at the Reason Foundation, Los Angeles, VA; Dennis Morgan, CP, retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis, MO and Christine L. Grahl, editor for POB magazine and POBonline.com.
About Kappa Mapping, Inc.
Kappa Mapping, Inc. provides a full range of photogrammetric services to produce highly accurate, cost-effective digital maps that meet the goals of a variety of clients: wind farm assessment, utility and transportation corridor planning, engineering design, campus planning, environmental assessment, and municipal governance. Kappa Mapping, Inc. is a woman-owned business. For more information, call 866.836.8834 or visit kappamap.com.
About MAPPS
Formed in 1982, MAPPS is the only national association exclusively comprised of private firms in the remote sensing, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States. Current MAPPS memberships span the entire spectrum of the geospatial community, including Member Firms engaged in satellite and airborne remote sensing, surveying, photogrammetry, aerial photography, LIDAR, hydrography, bathymetry, charting, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS, and GIS data collection and conversion services. MAPPS also includes Associate Member Firms, which are companies that provide hardware, software, products and services to the geospatial profession in the United States and other firms from around the world. MAPPS provides its 160+ member firms opportunities for networking and developing business-to-business relationships, information sharing, education, public policy advocacy, market growth, and professional development and image enhancement. For more information, please visit. MAPPS.org.