Fugro EarthData MAPPS 2008 Grand Award

Fugro EarthData (MD, USA) was presented the Grand Award for its project, "Mapping a vital marine resource in Texas," at the 2008 MAPPS Summer Conference July 22 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Furgo EarthData's work earned 'Project of the Year' honors in the MAPPS 2008 Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards competition.

MAPPS also presented awards to Intermap Technologies for "Ultra Long Lines: Increasing Airborne Data Acquisition Rates" in the category of Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition; Aero-Metric, Inc. for "Interstate 35W Bridge Collapse" in Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Generation; and Photo Science for "Legislative Atlas" in the GIS/IT category. The Fugro EarthData project was the category winner among Remote Sensing project entries.

Contracted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Coastal Services Center (CSC) in Charlston, SC, Fugro EarthData was given the challenge of creating benthic habitat maps to support the Texas Seagrass Monitoring Program. The goal of the project was to protect the shallow marine environment in the estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The project covered 1,400 square miles of Texas coastal estuaries and involved three elements: high-resolution aerial mapping, object-oriented classification, and quantitative accuracy assessment.

The 2009 Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards will be announced during the joint MAPPS-ASPRS conference to be held November 12-14, 2009 in San Antonio, Texas.