Posted by bruce in CO on Friday, June 15, 2007 at 00:59:51 :
In Reply to: Re: update from lurking non-poster posted by Tim Brake on Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 22:03:08 :
Tim,
You have not added your email link to your posting so I can't send you a more detailed message off of the Forum. I would think that doing mapping work inside the NFS would be a never-ending string of projects. At your end, you are probably using GIS-related products such as ESRI-Arc.
I'm closer to the base-map stages than to that of the end-users performing softcopy photogrammetric services including aerial triangulation of scanned aerial film and digital aerial imagery, stereo data extraction of both planimentric and terrain (DEM) features, orthophoto generation, and the qa/qc of digital imagery. I will also be integrating software allowing data extraction from LiDAR imagery.
I recently invested in a high-performance Dell Precision 690. Unfortunately, my part of the industry is not quite at the cusp of being compatible with 64-bit processing, so I spec'ed out nearly the hottest 32-bit I could customize. This machine is well beyond any I've used with any of my employers.
I will start out on my first-work contract using end-to-end MicroStation-based Intergraph Z/I softcopy software provided to me by my client. While generating income using the client's provided sw/hw, my goal for the next six months is to utilize this time to run further demo-tests on several software packages using my new machine before investing in my own software. This choice is based on my preferences, cost, and the contract potential from clients prefering the use of particular packages.
I am currently courting several vendors having attended the ASPRS conference in Tampa last month for several on-site demos. There are pros + cons to each package. I will be financially limited from procuring multiple suites and will have to chose one platform. I am leaning heavily toward Cardinal Systems VR2, but have not ruled out suites of modules from KLT Atlas, Leica LPS, or DAT/EM Summit Evolution.
If you do perform photogrammetric work for the NFS (as opposed to GIS work like I initially insinuated), what software do you use?
DODGE CONTENT: Do you have an "in" on any old NFS PW's?