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Welcome to AgWare News! The concept of this newsletter is to update our customers of upcoming training seminars, new releases, quick program fixes, program enhancements, and other general information. We hope that you will enjoy receiving this valuable information and that you will be interactive with your thoughts and comments. Please also check out our website at www.uaar.net.
Please mark your calendars for this years Annual User’s Meeting. The dates will be Thursday, October 5th and Friday, October 6th. We will be having the meetings in Denver, Colorado at the LaQuinta Inn & Suites by the Denver International Airport. The meetings will start on the 5th with an Enterprise session from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM, and then the main meeting will run from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM with a Happy Hour to follow. We will start back up on the 6th at 8:00 AM and we will conclude at 4:00 PM. If you would like to make your reservations please call the LaQuinta Inn at 303.371.0888 and let them know you will be with the AgWare Meetings. Room rates are $88.00 per night for a double room and $98.00 per night for a king room. Registration information will be coming out soon, so please watch your email.
Orthophotograph:
By Bob Nielsen, Certified Professional Soil Scientist
What is an orthophotograph? The growth of image-processing technology has spawned the emergence of digital aerial photographs that are rectified to provide images of ground features in their true map positions. A digital orthophoto is simply a computerized version of a conventional aerial photograph that shows ground features and is rectified to be geographically correct. Through the rectification process, aerial photographs or orhtophotographs show ground features in their true map coordinates and are true to scale, measure, and position on the earth’s surface. These rectified aerial photographs are raster images that are composed of a series of small pixels or squares that form the image. In black and white photos, each pixel has a color of black, white, or shade of gray. When a photograph is viewed on a computer system, users can zoom into an area until the pixels become visible. In this example, rows and columns of small squares of various shades are visible and the ground feature is no longer identifiable. Pixel size affects the orthophoto’s resolution or sharpness. A smaller pixel size produces dense, sharp images while large pixels produce images that are not as sharp or clear. The tradeoff is that photo pixel size is inversely related to the size of its computer file. i.e. The smaller the photo’s pixels the larger the files.
Generally, the pixel size or resolution of aerial orthophotographs available from public providers is about 1 meter and each pixel represents an area on the ground that is 1 meter square. Greater resolution can be obtained from half or sub-meter resolution but cost and computer storage capacity may be an issue.
Aerial orthophotos come in various formats but the most common are GEOTIFF, GEOJPG, and MrSID. GEOTIFF and GEOJPG are tiff and jpg raster files that have an accompanying geo-referencing file allowing these files to work within a GIS (Geographical Information System). They can also be viewed by most graphic or photographic computer software that will read tiff or jpg files. As such, they can be included as pictures or graphic illustrations in appraisal reports and presentations.
The MrSID file format stands for Multiresolution Seamless Image Database and has a file extension of SID. MrSID technology is patented and developed by LizardTech, Inc. of Seattle.
The MrSID format is a compressed form of an orthophotograph. Depending on the ortho-image resolution, the MrSID file compress can reduce orthophotgraphic file size by 10 to 15 times thus saving large amounts of storage space and Internet download times. Because of this savings the MrSID format is becoming more popular and is commonly used to deliver mosaic orthophotographic imagery that covers larger areas such as counties or other geopolitical subdivisions. Note: Mosaic imagery is the process where smaller images (generally quadrangle size) are tiled together into one large seamless image with little or no degradation in quality or resolution.
The MrSID format is supported by most GIS software and there is also a viewer available from LizardTech, that is an Internet browser add-on.
The following are the AgWare seminars for 2006. Please fill out the attached registration form and fax it back to us at 605-787-6163 if you are interested in attending. Other seminars may be added based on interest. All training dates listed are the UAAR® two-day classes.
**Please note additional training may be added during the year. ASFMRA Chapters frequently request training in conjunction with their chapter meetings, which we happily do. If there are 10 or more individuals interested in your area please contact us and we will assist you in organizing a seminar.
**Continuing Education hours are between 14 and 16 hours based on your state. For more information on our seminars please contact AgWare at 605-787-7871 or see our website at www.uaar.net.
We would like to know what you think of the newsletter along with any comments and ideas for future issues.
AgWare, Inc.
PO Box 138
Piedmont, SD 57769
Phone: 605-787-7871
Fax: 605-787-6163
Email: agware@uaar.net
Website: www.uaar.net
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