MoreZ/I Imaging Corporation, an Intergraph Company, announced that Aero-Metric, Inc. (Sheboygan, WI) has purchased the Z/I Imaging Digital Mapping Camera (DMC) system, which provides a complete digital workflow for data acquisition that includes mission planning, sensor management, digital imagery processing and photogrammetric software. A leading photogrammetric engineering firm for Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Aero-Metric's range of services include aerial photography, photogrammetry, survey and customized, specialty services for satellite imagery processing and remote sensing. As the recipient of a recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) contract to provide shoreline mapping services, Aero-Metric will use the DMC to produce maps for some of the estimated 95,000 miles of U.S. shoreline or any of the nation's 48 major ports. By utilizing the DMC with its innovative framing technology and multi-use sensor, Aero-Metric can capture large-, medium- and small-scale imagery with a reduced number of photoflights while ensuring highly accurate input for the downstream processes. This ensures that the resulting maps are precise.
Aero-Metric, Inc. chose Z/I Imaging's DMC because of its highly innovative modular design based on Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) matrix (frame) sensors. "Because Z/I Imaging and Aero-Metric, Inc. are innovators in the photogrammetric industry we know that we can depend on the leading-edge technology of the DMC to rapidly produce final products that satisfy our most demanding customers," said Bernard Schur, President, Aero-Metric, Inc. "The technical advantage of the DMC's 12-bit imagery will ensure that extremely accurate geometry is delivered for producing the exact results needed in an automated mensuration and triangulation workflow. For our aerial missions, we also need to be able to move large amounts of image data from an aircraft operating in remote areas back to the central processing facility. The DMC not only provides us with the tools to do all this but it makes sure that it rapidly delivers the data, so we can efficiently meet our deadlines."
"We are excited to have Aero-Metric chose the Digital Mapping Camera to enhance their productivity and the quality of the spatial data they provide to their customers," said Terry Keating, Chairman, Z/I Imaging. "This selection confirms the importance of a no-compromise approach to precision data imaging even under the most demanding production schedules."
Z/I Imaging's DMC offers multispectral capabilities while providing high geometric resolution. The system is comprised of eight cameraheads - four parallel cameras generating multispectral imagery for the acquisition of color composites and four converging panchromatic cameras acquiring imagery that is digitally interweaved in order to form a single image with the same ground coverage. Resulting imagery has ground resolution better than two inches. The sensor model of the DMC is based on the central perspective image, which allows processing of data in all existing exploitation systems.
Source: Z/I Imaging Corporation, Sept. 9, 2003.
