HUNTSVILLE, Ala., April 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The US Geological Survey (USGS) has selected Hexagon US Federal to upgrade the machine learning-based Land Cover Mapping (LCM) tool. Through more than a decade of success using the LCM tool powered by Hexagon’s ERDAS IMAGINE, the USGS has continued to achieve its mission of supplying timely, relevant, and useful information about the earth and the changes experienced by the national land cover.

Since 2005, the LCM tool has generated USGS’s National Land Cover Database that collects public domain information on the 3.8 million miles of land cover in the United States and Puerto Rico. This information provides complete, current, and consistent information critical to government managers and officials that seek to understand how land cover changes over time.

“We’re proud to be part of this worthwhile mission and provide critical tools and support to USGS,” said Brad Ward, Hexagon US Federal senior vice president for geospatial solutions. “Their long history of expert scientific research in conjunction with other federal agencies is unparalleled. Understanding how land cover changes over time leads to responsible urban development and preservation of the nation’s natural resources and wildlife.”

The data is used by dozens of federal government organizations, state governments, and private industry to make decisions on wetland ecosystems, urban development, deforestation, agricultural production, climate change and flooding, for example.

The LCM tool is essential to the USGS mission and operates in tandem with ERDAS IMAGINE. Using a CART (classification and regression tree) machine learning algorithm, LCM classifies pixels based on unique attributes allowing for more accurate and efficient mapping. Hexagon’s improvements will ensure USGS and its partner agencies continue to create high quality mission critical data uninterrupted for years to come.

Updates are expected to go live later this year with an immediate benefit of access to more modern software features and capabilities. For more information, please visit www.hexagonusfederal.com.

For more information, contact:
Mallory Hilderbrand, Hexagon US Federal, +1.256.799.6426, mallory.hilderbrand@hexagonusfederal.com

About Hexagon US Federal

Hexagon US Federal is a wholly owned independent subsidiary of Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure serving the US federal government. Hexagon provides mission-critical and business-critical solutions to governments and service providers. A global leader, proven innovator and trusted partner, our software and industry expertise help improve the lives of millions of people through safer communities, better public services and more reliable infrastructure. Visit www.hexagonusfederal.com for more information.

Hexagon US Federal is part of Hexagon (Nasdaq Stockholm:HEXAB) (hexagon.com), a leading global provider of information technologies that drive productivity and quality across geospatial and industrial applications.

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