The use of three-dimensional geospatial data is providing value in the fire fighting efforts in California for Intermap Technologies’ customers. The Company currently has high-resolution elevation data for the state of California on-the-shelf as part of its U.S. and Western European NEXTMap® geospatial data collection program. As previously announced, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has licensed data from Intermap for California and other regions of the nation. Under this licensing agreement, the Agency along with other agencies within the Department of Defense are utilizing Intermap’s NEXTMap USA radar imagery and high resolution terrain data to support efforts to fight the wildfires in Southern California.
Intermap’s NEXTMap USA terrain data is being used to plan aerial water missions for aircraft deployed to California. The data is also providing highly detailed terrain mapping and 3D visualization for decision makers at the national, state, and local levels. Intermap has further authorized Department of Defense Agencies to share the data at no cost for a limited time with Department of Homeland Security, state, county, and local government agencies to fight the fires and for initial remediation efforts.
Included in the high-resolution datasets are digital surface models depicting the earth’s surface (including cultural features such as vegetation, buildings, and roads), digital terrain models displaying the bare earth (with all cultural features digitally removed), and orthorectified radar images (grayscale images that accentuate topographic features). The 1-meter vertically accurate and 5-meter posted digital elevation models (DEMs) enables a variety of solutions for the agency, including, but not limited to, geographic planning and disaster preparedness/management.
