Merrick & Company Awarded LiDAR Contract Houston-Galveston Area Council, Houston, Texas, USA

Aurora, CO USA – Merrick & Company, a world leader in LiDAR,
digital ortho imaging, photogrammetry, and geospatial solutions
was awarded a $1.86 million contract with the Houston-Galveston
Area Council (H-GAC). LiDAR data will be collected over a
3,695 square mile project area. The H-GAC’s Geographic Data
Committee (GDC) is made up of over 60 agencies that participate
in geographic information system (GIS) data sharing, education/training,
and cost sharing. In addition to raw LiDAR data collected at a 1-meter
ground sample distance, Merrick will deliver bare earth and hill shade
digital terrain models (DTMs), 1-foot contours, and three-dimensional
breaklines. Awarded this month, the final data will be delivered by
April 2009.

This area is home to over five-million residents. Not
only does the high level of intra-agency cooperation reduce
the costs of geospatial data acquisition, better planning for
the region’s citizens will result. According to Robert LaBarbera,
GISP, H-GAC GIS Program Manager – Data Services Department,
“Many of the participating entities could not afford to acquire
this level of accurate data on their own.”

Flooding is a major concern in this low lying region. Rapid
urbanization is leading to reduced permeable surfaces for runoff
and subsidence due to ground water use for the growing population.
The geospatial data will be used by the various agencies in
numerous GIS applications, including flood modeling and prevention
in order to plan for a safe and prosperous future.
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