On Friday, March 27, 2015, the Middle Georgia Regional Commission (MGRC), in partnership with Baldwin County Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the University of Georgia's (UGA) Information Technology Outreach Service (ITOS), co-hosted a free educational seminar on Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology.  Over fifty (50) GIS professionals, practitioners and enthusiasts from State and local government agencies, as well as private sector companies, from across the State of Georgia heard informative presentations on a range of topics designed to increase understanding of the technology, its use, and its value to the State and its local communities.

Randy Mayden, from Surdex Corporation, began the day with an overview of technical specifications and was followed by Chris Chalmers, from Woolpert, who discussed LiDAR acquisition technologies and project planning considerations.  Artie Robinson and Natalie Culpepper from Esri, discussed tools and processes for working with LiDAR data in the ArcGIS suite of products.  The final presentation of the day by Jeff Simmons, of Quantum Spatial, showed attendees examples of real-world applications of the technology with implications for community and economic development, public safety and emergency preparedness, environmental planning and conservation, infrastructure mapping and more.

"LiDAR data is incredibly valuable to the State and local communities, but it is unavailable in many areas due to the relatively high cost of acquisition," said Nick Kouloungis, Director of Technology Services at the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, "our goal with this seminar is to help people look past the acquisition cost and better understand the technology and its potential as a decision support tool and for return on initial investment.  We also want to promote a regional, collaborative approach to LiDAR and orthoimagery acquisition, which will always make such products more financially feasible than if individual agencies undertake such projects alone."

This event was hosted at the conference center at the Milledgeville Campus of Central Georgia Technical College and was generously sponsored by Surdex Corporation, Woolpert, Esri, and Quantum Spatial.