NEWS

NEWS LISTINGS

Date	News Article
Sept 2005	VeriMap has made a mandate to move its Rapid Mapping System to high altitude fast moving planes. The company sees a niche in producing high-quality Imagery for the Agriculture Industry to supplement the Satellite Remote Sensed data that is cloud shrouded. Precision farming for the Florida Citrus industry could use Rapid delivery Imagery delivered to growers, to assist in control of the fungus Tristeza; affecting the sour orange root stock. It is expected that the combination of the CIR and Thermal IR imagery will assist greatly in isolating the fungus that infects some of the orange groves. The VeriMap solution deliveries will be near real-time from the airborne processing platform in a 2hr to 24hr to 72hr service... depending on urgency and depending on amount of data collected and resolution to be delivered.
July 2005	All systems operational and SatCom 1/2 speed operational. The Thermal Test site was duplicated in San Marcos TX. Thermal targets were DGPS positioned to 0.5m accuracy. Multiple test flights were flown in July and August refining the data process stream and imagery output formats to the Internet FTP at a compressed rate of 900K-bytes per minute. Hardware compression is expected to maximize at 8Mbytes per minute transfer rate. Various altitudes were flown to obtain a cross section of results. 5000' AGL up to 20,000'AGL were successfully flown. Accuracies from 5000' (1m) imagery was 1m accurate. The 20,000' data was 6m accurate. Spot sizes of 7" diameter were detected easily from 20,000' Three charcoal briquettes were detected from 15,000'.
June 2005	The system was damaged in shipping (April) and repaired June 10, 2005. the SatCom was operational tested and operational at 64kps. The first AB Gov test trial was attempted unsuccessfully June 23. SatCom Antenna shorted from excessive water and main PC system failed during the flight test. The test was re-scheduled to Sept 2005.
March 2005	VeriMap and Berry Aviation launched discussions to team expertise of High-Altitude aircraft and VeriMap Rapid mapping system. It was planned to have system operational by June 1, 2005 with system configured on a MetroLiner III aircraft. All but 5 of the 19 seats would be removed to allow for 3 work-stations and two observer-training seats. All Image processing would be moved on-board the aircraft to speed in all products processing. The first demo trial was to be for the Alberta Government FireMapping program. The RFP and actual test would involve flying over a pre-determined "simulated-fire-spot" area that would serve as an accuracy and reliability trial to ensure a quality product deliverable.
Feb 2005	USGS Mapping of fresh water springs in the Cedar Key Florida areas. 250,000 acres of wetlands were mapped in Thermal IR and Color IR. Temperature calibration data was incorporated into the Imagery and 0.05 C differentials were possible. Many natural Spring "features" were found in the imagery. Most features displayed a 5.0 C differential while large features exhibited as much as 10 Celsius differences. The project was a huge success. http://www.verimap.com/html/po-portfolio.htm#poRecent
Oct-Dec 2004	Several Agriculture companies have expressed interest in using VeriMap Rapid Map services when the conversion to the high-altitude plane occurs. That is expected for spring 2005 with a KingAir 200 Pressurized aircraft. The upgraded platform would realize significant savings in image data delivery. Prices of about $0.05 per acre could be delivered when large area blocks could be collected.
August 2004	USGS cold water seeps mapping near Mobile bay Alabama. A 20,000 acre area was mapped in the Weeks bay area near Magnolia AL. The thermal imagery was calibrated by ground based temperature control points obtained during the flight cross referenced to GPS position. The mission was collected at 5000'AGL and generated 1m thermal Imagery on the ground. Thermal gradients were measured to be a fine as 0.05 Celsius between grey tone slices. the Imagery is displayed in our "portfolio" section of our site. (make this link to the imagery). http://www.verimap.com/html/po-portfolio.htm#poHistorical The Imagery has identified cooler ground-water seeps in the Magnolia River.
July 2004	VeriMap completes roll-out of second mapping system designed for ultra high-resolution imagery with integrated high-density 3D terrain mapping. The package is a combined effort of two companies ... VeriMap and Laser Mapping Image Specialists of Raymond MS. LMSI are pioneers in the LiDAR industry. Their team has advanced to ownership of an Optech 33-khthz laser system providing stunning results and accuracies for full engineering and mapping. See our Portfolio section on details of the debut project for Mississippi Highways.
Feb 2004	Agriculture Growers and Specialists currently use 25m Satellite Imagery to evaluate trends in growth patterns and cycles. Airborne sensors have become very accurate using calibrated-medium-format equipment, which operates very economically vs Large Format Digital Sensors worth $1M. Consumers have realized that high-definition imagery (30cm to 75cm) for detailed crop analysis is very effective for change detection analysis. However, larger more economical views generate resolution of 1m to 2m seems to be very cost effective when collecting large block areas. These data are delivered same day, late at night to FTP Internet Sites. VeriMap's mandate move to very high-altitude (25,000') evaluated the Lear36 as a very fast aircraft up to 400kts. This will enable collection and processing in the order of 2-million acres per day..(includes ortho-imagery products delivered next day). VeriMap suggests this marked improvement to the services delivered is a direct-result of VeriMap custom-proprietary approach to mapping. Price per acre-delivered will be as low as $0.03 per acre of ortho-imagery service (2m data.)
Feb 2004	Research into resolution needs vs. costs to consumer have realized that high-definition imagery for detailed crop analysis is 40cm. This allows for individual plant discrimination for corn, tomatoes, cotton etc. However, for larger more economical views of soybean a more economical resolution of 1m to 2m seems to be very effective. VeriMap expansion to very high-altitude (26,000') and very fast aircraft (380kts) will enable collection and processing in the order of 2-million acres per day..(includes ortho-imagery products delivered next day). VeriMap projects this marked improvement to the services as a direct result of VeriMap custom-proprietary approach to mapping. We do not need stereo coverage or ground control points to enable the VeriMap-Solution. Price per acre is estimated to drop to $0.15 per delivered-acre of ortho-imagery service (1m data.)
Jan 2004	VeriMap enters discussions Scott Quinn of Farmsite Technologies, MD to potentially include the VeriMap Imagery as part of their Auto-Farm services. The auto-farm system is designed to improve the bottom line profits to the growers. www.farmsite.com
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