Sunday April 15th 2007
Filed Under Merrick & Company
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2007
Press Contact:
Gary Outlaw, GISP, Vice President - Business Development,
GeoSpatial Solutions
Tel.: (Cell) 303-520-4719; (Office) 800-544-1714, ext. 3901
E-mail: gary.outlaw@merrick.comWeb: www.merrick.com/gis
Merrick & Company Begins Digital Orthophotography Update for
Lake County, Illinois
Aurora, CO USA – Merrick & Company, a world leader in LIDAR, digital ortho imaging, photogrammetry and GIS mapping is providing color digital orthophotography for
Lake County, Illinois this Spring as part of a multi-year contract.
Merrick will use its Digital Airborne Camera System (DACS™) for imagery collection instead of film.
DACS™, a medium format (39 megapixel) metric digital camera system, receives its orientation from both the airborne GPS and Inertial Measurement Unit co-mounted in the Cessna aircraft.
Merrick orients the imagery and LiDAR with the same AGPS and IMU and thus eliminates the need for analytical aero triangulation, saving time and reducing cost.
The County will receive color digital orthophotography at a half-foot pixel resolution for 470 square miles with final delivery expected in September 2007.
This follows previous projects in the same coverage area.
¾more¾
The 2002 phase included 1”= 100’ 6-inch pixel resolution digital black and white orthophotography, LIDAR based two-foot contours, and planimetric features. The 2004
phase included black and white digital orthophotography at a 1-foot pixel resolution and
the 2005 phase included black and white digital orthophotography at a half-foot pixel resolution.
Gary Outlaw, GISP, Merrick’s Vice President of Business Development, GeoSpatial Solutions states, “We have enjoyed our professional relationship with
Lake
County since 2002 and our work in this area dates back to the early 1990’s.
It is rewarding to follow through on a complete geospatial data lifecycle.”
Lake
County and its citizens are benefiting from consistent data collection procedures and products as they are used for efficient management in
Lake
County.
According to Richard Hilton, GIS Division Manager for the Lake County Department of Information Technology, “Nearly every county department uses the digital orthophotography for geographic analysis and for communicating with the public. All aerial data is available to other government agencies and to the public for the cost of reproduction and is also included in the county’s public interactive Internet GIS application.” (www.co.lake.il.us/maps)
Lake
County is situated on the shores of Lake Michigan between
Chicago and
Milwaukee.
This predominantly suburban landscape, home to more than 600,000 people, is continuously experiencing new development.
Lake
County’s ongoing digital orthophotography program provides essential information for managing rapid growth.
“We are measuring changes in land use to analyze issues and understand trends in ways that aren’t otherwise possible,” concludes Hilton.
Visit
Lake
County’s GIS and Mapping Division on the Web at www.co.lake.il.us/gis.
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About Merrick & CompanyFounded in
Denver in 1955, Merrick & Company is a world-leading multidisciplinary engineering, architectural, geospatial solutions, and construction management firm. The employee-owned company provides these services to municipal, state, federal, and private-sector clients. With approximately 400 employees, Merrick has offices in Aurora and Colorado Springs, CO; Los Alamos and Albuquerque, NM; Atlanta, GA, Ottawa, Canada and Guadalajara, Mexico.