November 16, 2011 -- A project providing a cloud computing solution to geospatial data for BP Deep Water Horizon event has been selected as the Grand Award winner in the 5th Annual MAPPS Geospatial Products and Services Excellence Awards.

AeroMetric, Inc. of Sheboygan, WI was selected for "Geospatial Cloud Solution for Natural Resources Damage Assessment and Restoration" at the presentation ceremony on November 15.

The project was selected for AeroMetric's ability to provide BP a dynamic process to develop and manage remote sensing, aerial surveillance acquisition programs and geospatial intelligence products and dissemination in response to the Deep Water Horizon accident.

"AeroMetric developed a workable cloud solution before 'the cloud' became an accepted and mainstream idea," said Professor Robert Burtch PS, CP, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan chairman of the judges' panel. "This solution provides for user-centric access and web services through a secure Web Portal and allows for Open Geospatial Consortium standard web services. AeroMetric is very deserving of this year's Grand Award."

MAPPS awarded winners in seven technical categories. AeroMetric's geospatial cloud project won in the GIS/IT category. Microsoft's Bing Imagery Technologies (BIT) project, "Bing Maps Global Ortho Aerial Data Acquisition Program" won for Airborne and Satellite Data Acquisition. BAE System's won for "PAMAP: The Keystone to Intelligent Decision" won for Photogrammetry/Elevation Data Generation and BAE's project "Estuary Enhancement in the Garden State" won in the Remote Sensing category. Woolpert, Inc. won for "Aeronautical Surveys for FAA WAAS Program" in the Surveying/Field Data Collection category. Kappa Mapping won the Small Projects category for "Danbury, CT Airport". And Optech Incorporated won the award in the Technology Innovation for its "ALTM Aquarius" shallow-water mapping sensor.

"In this, the fifth year of the Excellence Awards Program, I believe MAPPS member firms have once again demonstrated the professionalism, innovation and societal benefit that the private geospatial community provides to enhance our quality of life," said MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello. "These awards highlight ongoing challenges that geospatial solutions address and solve. The projects demonstrate ingenuity and professionalism MAPPS members strive to provide on a daily basis."

A panel of independent judges evaluated projects submitted by MAPPS members for the awards program. Joining Mr. Burtch on the panel was Christine Grahl, editor for POB Magazine, Troy, Michigan; Leonard Gilroy, AICP, director of government reform at Reason Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; Donn Dears, president of TSAugust.org, a nonprofit think tank conducting research on energy and economic issues, in Geneva, Illinois; and Thomas Palmerlee, associate director, Technical Activities Division at the Transportation Research Board (TRB), Washington, DC.

The awards presentation took place at the MAPPS Fall Policy Conference, held in conjunction with the ASPRS/Pecora Remote Sensing Symposium. The reception was sponsored by T3 Global Strategies, a MAPPS member firm, at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel in Herndon, VA.

About MAPPS
Formed in 1982, MAPPS is the only national association exclusively comprised of private firms in the remote sensing, spatial data and geographic information systems field in the United States. The MAPPS membership spans the entire spectrum of the geospatial community, including Member Firms engaged in satellite and airborne remote sensing, surveying, photogrammetry, aerial photography, mobile mapping, LIDAR, building information models (BIM), 3D mapping, hydrography, bathymetry, charting, aerial and satellite image processing, GPS, and GIS data collection and conversion services. MAPPS also includes Associate Member Firms, which are companies that provide hardware, software, products and services to the geospatial profession in the United States and other firms from around the world. Independent Consultant Members are sole proprietors engaged in consulting in or to the geospatial profession, or provides a consulting service of interest to the geospatial profession. 

MAPPS provides its 180+ member firms opportunities for networking and developing business-to-business relationships, information sharing, education, public policy advocacy, market growth, and professional development and image enhancement. 

For more information on MAPPS, please visit  www.MAPPS.org.