The Wisconsin State Cartographer’s Office (SCO) has been awarded a federal grant to develop an imaging program that can help government agencies and businesses with emergency response planning, cropland monitoring, real estate development and more.
The grant - "Business Plan Development for a Wisconsin Aerial Imaging Program" - was awarded by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) to develop an aerial imaging program.
Aerial photography is used by government agencies and businesses throughout the state for a wide range of applications, such as emergency response and planning, forest management, developing high-accuracy street maps and more.
Users of online mapping applications such Google Maps and Mapquest are familiar with the “satellite” imagery available on these sites.
What most users don’t realize, however, is that this imagery often comes from government-managed programs at the state and national level.
The grant will allow the SCO to examine existing models used to acquire and distribute aerial photography projects in Wisconsin and, based on community input, analyze the lessons learned from these past projects. The expected outcome is a formal implementation plan for a statewide aerial photography program that meets the needs of a wide audience of users in the state.
The grant proposal is timely given the recent completion of an aerial photography project organized under the auspices of the Wisconsin Regional Orthophotography Consortium and the publication of several strategic planning documents that call attention to the need for statewide aerial photography including the “State of Wisconsin Homeland Security Strategic Plan” [pdf] and “Wisconsin Location Matters” [pdf].
Developing a formal business plan also better prepares Wisconsin for future regional or national aerial photography initiatives.
The primary partners on the grant are the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs and the North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, along with assistance from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Wisconsin Geographic Information Office, and the Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council.
For more information on this project, including a copy of the grant proposal, please see the announcement.