John Ellis has retired after 41 years in the photogrammetry and mapping profession. Ellis has been a certified photogrammetrist since 1980, and joined AeroMetric in 1971.
His first position with the company was as a draftsman, and he advanced through a variety of positions from aerial camera operator to manager of the photogrammetric and computer department. In the early 1990s Ellis moved into project management, and also served as a technical advisor in research and development projects. Over his career at AeroMetric, Ellis designed and managed well over 500 photogrammetric and remote sensing projects and was actively involved in several professional associations, including leadership roles such as past vice president of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing’s Alaska Region.
AeroMetric is a national leader in LiDAR mapping, and it was Ellis who was responsible for establishing AeroMetric’s LiDAR program in 2002. Since then he designed and managed over 160 LiDAR projects.
During the past decade he served as business development manager in Alaska, coordinating directly with clients to provide customized cost estimates and proposals, and served as their main point of contact. He was also a member of AeroMetric’s executive committee for Alaska operations.
Tony Follett, AeroMetric’s Alaska Region Manager, notes that, “John has made a tremendous contribution, not only to our company, but to our profession in advancing the application of emerging technologies in Alaska—being involved in every remote sensing initiative in this last frontier. John developed deep and enduring relationships with our clients and colleagues, and his expertise, knowledge, and caring approach to all assignments will be sorely missed.”
Ellis worked on a number of notable assignments, “My most memorable and complex project sent me overseas on a $4M assignment that provided mapping, orthophotography and GIS to support an environmental restoration program. I also provided the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation with remote sensing technology for mining applications. This assignment introduced remote sensing techniques to the Alaska mining industry, providing them with new tools to enhance mining exploration in Alaska.”
From: Press Office