Oak Ridge National Laboratory
07/18/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 07/18/2024 10:47
ORNL hosts conference on photogrammetry and remote sensing
July 18, 2024
ASPRS participants pose for a group photo. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
At 35.9 degrees north and 84.3 degrees west, otherwise known as the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, over 180 geospatial scientists convened in-person and remotely for the annual conference for the Mid-South Regional Chapter of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, or ASPRS. Participants spanning government, academia and industry engaged in talks, poster sessions, events and workshops to further scientific discovery in a field devoted to using pictures to understand changes to the earth's inhabitants and landscape.
"The ASPRS Midsouth Region has the most active student chapters, and our annual conference is one of the ways we're helping connect the students and faculty advisors to other researchers and industry. The networks we're helping build are the future of field," said ORNL researcher Orrin Thomas, chapter president for the Mid-South Regional Chapter.
Government organizations need information to make decisions impacting communities, ranging from timely information to support natural disaster response to long-term analysis to understand population migration and water security. Researchers use photogrammetry, the discipline of extracting 3D features from a 2D photo, and remote sensing, using technology to detect and characterize objects or areas from ground and airborne satellites, to discover changes to our world and provide relevant information to the right organization.
The Mid-South region - including Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky - not only encompasses ORNL's geospatial research experts but also NASA, NOAA, other government agencies, academic institutions and private industry all looking to far-away cameras and sensors to tell us what's happening here on earth.
ORNL senior researcher David Hughes remarked on how the lab was a symbiotic location for this conference. "Oak Ridge National Laboratory is centrally located to our membership states," said Hughes, secretary for the Mid-South Regional Chapter of ASPRS. "Members find this location bursting with scientists and engineers to collaborate, and ORNL gives off a great vibe as a place for them to meet and have a conference."
Three corporations, Planet Federal, NV5 and Baam.Tech, contributed financial sponsorship and technical workshops for the first time at the Mid-South conference.
Outside of industry-specific talks, participants also received a table-top demonstration of ORNL's drone capabilities; a tour of ORNL's Frontier computer, the world's only exascale computer; and a tour of the historic X-10 Graphite Reactor.
ORNL's research into geographic data science and human dynamics produces data, systems and insights that provide the scientific community and decision-makers with novel insights on human populations and critical infrastructures. "We greatly appreciate the many ORNL staff who volunteered their time to this conference to serve as moderators, logistics and reviewers," said Hughes. "We hope to have this conference again next year at ORNL!"
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. - Liz Neunsinger