Southwest Idaho Regional LiDAR Conference

OpenTopography received the following information about this upcoming event in Boise via email today. The conference theme is "Light Detection and Ranging laser technology (LiDAR) to plan for, mitigate and solve public safety issues" and the list of topics looks interesting. Details in the announcement below:

On Thursday, June 17th the Southwest Idaho Geographic Information System (GIS) Users Group (SWIG) is holding its Summer 2010 Regional Conference at the University of Idaho's Water Center Room 162, at 322 East Front Street, Boise Idaho 83702 from 9:00am to 5:00pm. The event is FREE. Visit: http://swig.gisidaho.org/upcoming_mtg.html

Topics for this event are designed to appeal to all audience types: from non-GIS users who are more interested in policy related issues or applications of this technology to the advanced GIS web programmer.

The theme for this conference is "Light Detection and Ranging laser technology (LiDAR) to plan for, mitigate and solve public safety issues". Local professionals have volunteered to present on important topics related to their technical field of expertise. These experts include:

1. Boise: Kevin Jones (Idaho State University) has committed to a presentation titled "GIS Web Programming" that is billed as a technical survey of programming scripts used in the technical application necessary to create an interactive interface at a GIS enabled website.

2. Boise: Nicole Hanson (GIS Professional For Hire!!!) has committed to a presentation titled "Tips and Tricks" that is billed as a comprehensive presentation on increasing efficiency of operating the GIS system, accessing the built-in shortcuts of the program appealing to all users and skill levels.

3. Boise/Meridian: Bret Hazell (3di West) and Jason Paff (Power Engineers) have committed to a duel presentation titled "Mapping Technologies for Land Planning" that is billed as a
comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of using both photogrammetry and LiDAR technologies in land planning.

4. Pocatello: Derrick Sharp (Whisper Mountain Inc.,) has committed to a presentation titled "Hazard Mitigation using LiDAR" that is billed as a case study of using lidar to create the evacuation plans for Bonneville County in the event of a dam breach.

5. Boise: Brian Kienle (Pictometry International) has committed to a presentation titled "The Use of Oblique Imagery in Today's World" that is billed as how LiDAR data is collected in support of various topics, including forest fire fuels modeling.

6. Boise: Jay Breidenbach (National Weather Service, NOAA) has committed to a presentation tentatively titled "Inundation Mapping for Advance Hydrologic Predictive Services" that is billed as a survey of the NOAA's Advanced Hydrologic Predictive Services (AHPS) capability to provide the emergency management community with detailed inundation maps corresponding to rivers. These maps have been used to plan flood mitigation activities and protect the general public from hazardous conditions during a flood event.

7. Boise: Craig Thompson (National Park Service) has committed to a presentation titled "GIS in the Federal Government" that is billed as how Geographical Information System is being used in fire prediction and prevention treatments.

Presentation Schedule has not yet been established and is subject to change until May 26, 2010.

See http://swig.gisidaho.org/upcoming_mtg.html for the most up-to-date information or Contact: Ryan McDaniel, (208) 323-2288, Planning Committee Chair.