Relief and recovery efforts in Haiti

27 January 2010, 2:06pm

Merrick’s GeoSpatial Solutions Division Supporting Haitian Relief and Recovery Mapping Activities

Recovery Mapping Activities Funded by the World Bank

The GeoSpatial Solutions (GSS) division of Merrick & Company is making their contribution to the relief and recovery efforts in Haiti along with millions of others. The geospatial technologies and engineering firm is providing proprietary software in support of the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data acquisition currently underway. The LiDAR is being acquired in order to define distribution routes around the island to more quickly deliver the relief aid and to provide the appropriate data to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for earthquake scientists to analyze the fault line to predict future events. It’s also hoped that rubble estimates and building damage assessment can be defined.

This mapping activity is being funded by the World Bank and is a joint effort of the Rochester Institute of Technology,
Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and ImageCat Inc., a disaster recovery firm.

The data deliverables will be provided to USGS, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and non-governmental agencies that can benefit from the high fidelity datasets.

The Merrick Advanced Remote Sensing (MARS®) software suite will be used for LiDAR data visualization, analysis, and processing. With the software’s capabilities to support users working with very large light detection and ranging (LiDAR) datasets, the MARS® software will allow the analysts to work much more quickly in defining those transportation routes.

The MARS® suite is a robust, production‐grade Windows® application designed to manage, visualize, process, and analyze LiDAR data. Boasting powerful visualization capabilities and excellent data processing performance, MARS® also supports high-resolution orthoimagery, GIS/CAD vector data and hyperspectral imagery.

Merrick & Company, an $85 million engineering, architecture, design-build, surveying, and geospatial solutions firm, serves domestic and international clients in the geospatial technologies, mapping, energy, security, and life sciences markets. With a focus on geospatial surveying and remote sensing services, the firm’s most recent work includes LiDAR data collection for DiMAR (Colombian Navy), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Southern Command.

www.merrick.com

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