Bangor, ME – Kappa Mapping recently received the Small Projects award for the second year in a row as part of the fourth annual MAPPS Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards competition.
Kappa’s winning entry – Tenant’s Harbor Buoy Counting Project – used photogrammetry to inventory the number of buoys marking lobster traps in Tenants Harbor, Maine, an innovative approach that proved to be much more reliable than the traditional method of hand-counting from a boat.
The Bangor-based firm was recognized by MAPPS, a national association of photogrammetry, mapping, and geospatial firms, on November 17 at the 2010 MAPPS Fall Policy Conference held this year in Orlando, FL.
A panel of independent judges evaluated 13 projects in six categories – airborne and satellite data acquisition; photogrammetry/elevation data generation; remote sensing; GIS/IT; small projects; and technology innovation. – and made their selections based on the “professionalism, value, integrity and achievement that member firms have demonstrated in their projects and technology developments over the previous year,” according to a MAPPS news release.
“We’re honored to receive this award for our work in Tenants Harbor,” said Claire Kiedrowski, president of Kappa Mapping, “We used photogrammetry to provide Maine Department of Marine Resources (MeDMR) with an accurate count of lobster traps – and to prove the actual number far exceeded the number counted visually. This information will now help MeDMR scientists determine how trap numbers affect the lobster population and sustainability.”
According to Kiedrowski, Kappa’s innovative approach will also be used to gather information for whale risk and shipping channel conflict assessments.
‘The success of Maine’s largest trapping experiment would not have been possible without the innovative work of Kappa Mapping,” said Carl Wilson, a MeDMR marine scientist. “They mapped the lobster fishery as never before. Kappa’s work will have direct impact on lobster science and management discussions.”
Other contest winners were Michael Baker Jr., Inc., which received the grand award for its U.S. Bureau of Census – Accurate Coordinate Datasets Collection. Photo Science’s project, Humboldt Bay Ecosystem Mapping, won for Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition. Woolpert, Inc. won for City of Columbus 2009 Impervious Surface Program in Remote Sensing. The Sidwell Company’s project, Improved Geospatial Cadastral Mapping with GIS Integration was selected in GIS/IT. And Microsoft won the award in Technology Innovation for its UltaCam L/Lp digital aerial camera.
"MAPPS member firms have once again 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. "On a daily basis, MAPPS member firms are providing quality services, data and technology products. The Excellence Awards highlight these achievements and the professionalism MAPPS members strive to provide."
Judges included Robert Burtch PS, CP of Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan, chairman of the judges’ panel; Christine "Kristi" Grahl, editor of P.O.B. magazine, Troy, MI; Pamela Lawhead, associate professor at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi; Leonard Gilroy, AICP, director of government reform at Reason Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; and Donn Dears, president of TSAugust.org, a nonprofit think tank conducting research on energy and economic issues.
About Kappa Mapping.
Kappa Mapping provides high-quality photogrammetric and GIS services that help a wide variety of clients – architects, engineers, surveyors, developers, airport planners, utility firms, municipalities, and government agencies – solve complex problems, monitor important resources, and better manage their communities. Kappa Mapping 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.