Forest One and Galileo Group Partner to Assist with Hurricane Recovery Efforts

Galileo Group, Inc. (FL, USA) and Forest One, Inc. (MS, USA) have partnered to provide assistance to government agencies and private companies attempting to recover from Hurricane Katrina. The partnership offers rapid response mapping, remote sensing and GIS services to assist with the recovery efforts. Both companies are proven providers of specialised airborne data and remote sensing services for the Department of Defense (DoD), other government agencies, and commercial clients.

Galileo has several light utility class aircraft available for short notice response and assistance in support of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. Galileo’s experience includes a solid record of remote area operations abroad under hazardous conditions.

Local reconnaissance and data collection support is provided by Forest One, which is located in the Katrina damaged area and knows the local geography well. Forest One is equipped with four-wheel-drive vehicles, all terrain vehicles, GPS units, data collection field computers, field mapping/GIS devices, and personnel trained in the use of all of these assets. These assets along with Forest One’s personnel can be used to assess the damage on the ground and relay the data back to the parties that need it. Forest One also has a proprietary database of land ownership information for much of the damaged area, which will be useful for locating properties and assessing damage to critical assets. The local surroundings have changed dramatically, but Forest One’s land ownership data combined with field GPS devices allow for the proper location of any property.

The combined capabilities of Forest One and Galileo offer the ability to collect the data and have it available for end users in hours. Aircrews have SATCOM capability and payloads available to offer a variety of imagery products, such as quick handheld digital photos, high resolution digital flight lines, colour infrared, and options for thermal/ night vision and hyperspectral imaging. Moving map displays and onboard GIS systems are utilised to track and record information for internet dissemination as a GIS layer for use with existing customer digital map systems and databases.

The aircraft/crews are being offered for service now to assist in survey and/or search and rescue at greatly discounted costs to federal, state and local agencies. Dissemination of imagery is via the internet for retrieval of images from secure directories through Galileo and Forest One websites. Multiple geographers, GIS analysts, cartographers, and portable field computers for image processing support are available to work on-site side-by-side with customers to process GIS information and rapidly re-task aircraft as required.

Forest One’s and Galileo’s combination of aircraft, aerial resonance, mapping services, and field data collection services is a unique offering that will undoubtedly help both private companies and public organisations recover from Hurricane Katrina.