Emerging Technologies in STC

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation about MN/DOT's Photogrammetry Unit response to the bridge collapse. A summary of the presentation is below. This may sound dry, and I may be biased by profession, but there were some great technical achievements and a good anecdote or two as well.

Presenters: Pete Jenkins and Dan Ross, MN/DOT; and Miles Strain, AeroMetric. AeroMetric is a major private aerial photography and mapping firm that maintains strong partnerships with MN/DOT and many other governments and agencies at all levels, and is a recognized leader in the field.

At 6:05pm 8/1/07, bridge #9340, the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River, collapsed. By 7:30pm, AeroMetric had contacted MN/DOT to offer all of it's capabilities in generating new imagery for the emergency response and rebuild efforts. Around the same time, Gov. Tim Pawlenty had publicly stated that the bridge would be rebuilt as soon as possible, and Pete Jenkins at MN/DOT had received authorization for all necessary action and expenditure to facilitate the rebuild effort. MN/DOT and AeroMetric personnel met and established a contract by handshake early on the morning of 8/2.

By approx. 2pm on 8/2, operating for MN/DOT, AeroMetric's helicopter was over the site and took over 300 high-quality digital aerial photographs from every possible angle of the site. Incident Command including airspace authority was not 100% unified at that time, and upon landing, AeroMetric's photographer and pilot were briefly detained by State Patrol officers who had followed and landed behind them in another helicopter. The proper authority was established in fairly short order and the crew was released and delivered the photos, which were rapidly put to use by all parties involved in the response.

By 8/3, the FBI, NTSB, and others were all involved on site in Minneapolis, placing additional demands on coordination and making physical and data security a greater factor for all responders. A second mission by airplane took extremely high-resolution photography and LIDAR scans, and flew directly to a processing facility in Ohio to expedite completion. This photography and the LIDAR data enabled MN/DOT and federal agencies to generate an incredibly high-accuracy three-dimensional model of the terrain. The photos and model were essential to the emergency workers, cleanup crews, and rebuild teams alike. Additional flights continued over the following weeks, providing frequent updates on the changing ground conditions.

There is much more, but I'll cut the technical review short in the context of this blog. In addition to the data itself, the raw speed of the response for this highly technical work and the ability to coordinate the efforts of AeroMetric and multiple layers of government was very impressive. I'd also like to point out that, as you may recall, rebuild plans were finalized and a bid awarded faster than just about anyone expected (mid September) - this work conducted by the Photogrammetry Unit and AeroMetric was pivotal in making that possible.

Unfortunately, the highest resolution photos are not publicly available at this time due to ongoing investigations by the FBI and NTSB. MN/DOT's official bridge website contains downsampled versions of much of this data, as well as more information about the process. A link to the presentation itself (.ppt) should be online soon, and I will update this blog when that goes online.