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Lidar Technology and Applications

Proposal for an elective course to be offered by the Dutton e-Education Institute

MGIS Capstone Project ProposalKaren SchuckmanSeptember, 2008

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• What is lidar?– Remote sensing technology that employs an airborne scanning laser

produce detailed and accurate topographic maps and 3D models.

Background

Image Credit: ASPRSImage Credit: Fugro EarthData

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Background

• Lidar is a primary source of elevation data.

• Lidar data is used in many GIS applications.

• Most lidar elevation data is in the public domain.

• The National Research Council has recommended

seamless lidar-based elevation data for the nation.

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Justification

• Demand for education and training

• Body of Knowledge component

• PSU does not offer a lidar course now

• PSU must maintain academic

leadership and competitiveness

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MGIS Capstone Project Proposal

1. Geog 596A: Course proposal suitable for submission to

the PSU Graduate School

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MGIS Capstone Project Proposal

• Geog 596C: Detailed course syllabus suitable for posting

on the Dutton Institute and World Campus web pages– Course Overview

– Course Objectives

– Required Course Materials

– Assignments and Grading

– Course Schedule

– Course Policies

– Technical Requirements

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MGIS Capstone Project Proposal

• Geog 596B: One complete lesson– Online instructional material

– Guidance for reading assignments

– Discussion Forum activity

– Lab activity

– Quiz

– Extra-credit opportunity

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Course Content

• Lesson 1: Lidar Sensor Design– Fundamental technical principles

– Classes of sensors

• Discrete return

• Waveform

• Photon-counting

Image Credit: Fugro EarthData

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Course Content

• Lesson 2: Lidar Remote Sensing Platforms– Classes of operational platforms for lidar sensors

• Spaceborne

• Airborne

• Ground-based

– Strengths and weaknesses for specific applications

Image Credit: Fugro EarthDataImage Credit: NASA

Image Credit: Fugro EarthData

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Course Content

• Lesson 3: Georeferencing and Calibration– GPS and IMU

– Processing of ranges to georeferenced points.

– In-situ calibration

Image Credit: Fugro EarthData

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Course Content

• Lesson 4: Automated Classification– Anomaly detection

– Point classification

– Strengths and weaknesses of automated filtering techniques

Image Credit: Fugro EarthData

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Course Content

• Lesson 5: Manual Editing and Product Generation– Manual editing

– Creation of terrain surfaces

• DSM

• DTM

• DEM

• TIN

– Lidargrammetry

• Breaklines and feature extraction

Image Credit: Fugro EarthData

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Course Content

• Lesson 6: QA/QC and Accuracy Assessment– Quality assurance and quality control methods

– Statistical methods of spatial accuracy assessment.

– Standards commonly used in the United States

Image Credit: Fugro EarthData

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Course Content

• Lesson 7: Applications - Topographic Mapping– Generation of topographic contours

– Slope and aspect analysis

– Flood inundation analysis

– Line-of-sight analysis

Image Credit: NCFMP

Image Credit: NCFMP

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Course Content

• Lesson 8: Applications – Forestry– Sensor and platform types

– Generation of forest canopy models

– Calculation of vegetation metrics

Image Credit: Fugro EarthData

Image Credit: Fugro EarthData

Image Credit: Fugro EarthData

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Course Content

• Lesson 9: Applications - Urban Modeling– Sensor and platform types

– Integration of airborne and ground-based lidar

– Modeling solid surfaces

– 3D visualization

Image Credit: University of Texas at DallasImage Credit: Fugro EarthData

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Course Content

• Lesson 10: Final Project– Students will apply knowledge and skills acquired in earlier lessons to a

realistic problem scenario of their own choice. In the final project,

students will:

• Choose data and software.

• Develop workflow

• Evaluate results

• Prepare report or presentation

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Instructional Strategies

• Online instructional material

• Textbook readings

• Self-assessments and graded quizzes

• Interactive discussion

• Laboratory Activities

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Evaluation Criteria

• 5 graded discussions at 5 points each (5% of grade)

• 9 lesson quizzes at 15 points each (27% of grade)

• 6 lab activities at 40 points each (48% of grade)

• Final Project at 100 points (20% of grade)

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Course Calendar

• 3-credit course, 120 hours of student activity

• 10 lessons, 12 student hours per lesson.

• Calendar formats– 10-week term

– 12-week summer semester

– 15-week fall and spring semester

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Course Calendar

• 10-week offering– Lessons 1 – 10

• one week per lesson

• 12-week offering– Lessons 1 – 9

• one week per lesson

– Lesson 10

• two weeks to complete

• one week for presentations and peer review.

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Course Calendar

• 15 week offering– Lessons 1 – 6

• one week per lesson

– Lesson 7 - 9

• two weeks per lesson

– Lesson 10

• two weeks to complete

• one week for presentations and peer review.

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Course Development Timeline

• September 2008 – Proposal and Peer Review

• September 2008 – Syllabus

• November 2008 – Sample Lesson

• August 2009 – Online content

• December 2009 – Assessment tools

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Summary

• MGIS Capstone Project lays foundation

• Capstone deliverables are sufficient to pursue approval

from Graduate School

• Full development requires support from Institute

• Online content delivered as OER.

• Full development will require one additional year.