Our first get together for the semester will be this coming Thursday (November 7th) at 5:00 pm. The meeting will be held in our usual meeting location at the Centeq Building room 216 (located in Suite B). The meeting will feature a guest speaker, so if more people than usual show up we might move to room 212 , which is also located in Suite B (just down the hall from room 216). Please remember that parking is free at the Centeq building. If you are interested in catching a bus to Centeq use Route 05. Directions to Centeq can be found here.

Jeremiah Johnson is a former Texas A&M Student who received his degree in Spatial Sciences from the Ecosystem Science and Management Department. After receiving his degree,  Jeremiah was hired at Surveying And Mapping, Inc. (SAM, Inc.) as a technical consultant for the company’s growing acquisition departments. His main job duties are finding inefficiencies in the acquisition and processing workflows and solving these inefficiencies by writing computer applications. After working with manned helicopters, airplanes, and ground vehicles, Jeremiah decided to research the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for geospatial data acquisition. SAM, Inc. has since bought its first UAS, and Jeremiah has been tasked with providing technical support in regards to unmanned acquisition workflow integration. Jeremiah also has a pilot’s license, which he uses to fly manned aircraft as a hobby.

Jeremiah will be presenting on use of UAS in the Private Industry. His presentation will provide a brief introduction and history of UAS along with an overview of worldwide UAS legislation. Finally I will go through a sample UAS acquisition project and the different steps involved.

Surveying And Mapping, Inc. is a surveyor owed and operated company dedicated to delivering integrated geospatial solutions for surveying, aerial mapping, airborne, mobile, and terrestrial LiDAR, GIS, SUE, hydrographic surveying, and construction phase services. With over 600 employees and 120 field crews, including more than 90 licensed surveyors, engineers, and photogrammetrists, SAM, Inc provides services to a diverse range of clients across North America. For more information about Sam Inc. available from their website.