A pioneer in the use of topobathymetric lidar, NV5 Geospatial has mapped a diversity of aquatic landscapes stretching across North America.
St. Petersburg, Florida – March 23, 2023 – Ten years after completing the company’s first shoreline mapping project, NV5 Geospatial announced today that it has mapped more than 26 million acres of North America’s shoreline and riverine environments for more than 200 projects. The projects have spanned across North America from the Nuyakuk River in Alaska, Lake Tahoe in California, the Rio Grande in Texas, the entire coasts of South Carolina and North Carolina, Achigan River in Quebec, Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and the Florida Keys. In 2022 alone, the company mapped and acquired topobathymetric lidar data for 14 projects including the Yellowstone River, Wyoming; Hells Canyon, Indiana; Revillagigedo Island, Alaska, and Iles de la Madeleine in Quebec.
In 2023, NV5 is already slated for a number of additional shoreline and riverine projects including a two year contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Geodetic Survey to provide topobathymetric lidar, 4-band imagery, and mapping of 3,115 sq miles of the coastal Maine shoreline.
“For a decade we have been helping local, state, and government agencies as well as commercial and private entities gain the insights they need to solve some of their most challenging nearshore and riverine projects through our mapping technologies including topobathymetric lidar,” said Kurt Allen, Vice President of NV5 Geospatial. “Whether it be mapping the shoreline after a hurricane, updating the national shoreline, assisting water boards with flood planning, or hundreds of other possible use cases, we are constantly improving our technology and scalability to always be at the ready for our customers.”
10 Years of Technological Innovation
NV5 Geospatial first mapped the shorelines and riverine environments in 2012 with the acquisition of high-resolution bathymetric lidar and natural color imagery for 34,051 acres of shoreline along the Sandy River, located in northwestern Oregon, to study the ever changing basin geomorphology. Today, topobathymetric lidar has a wide range of use cases, including shoreline and coastal intelligence, habitat restoration, floodplain modeling, volumetric analysis, infrastructure planning and engineering, and coastal zone management.
Topobathymetric lidar simultaneously measures and records three distinct surfaces – land, water, and submerged land using airborne laser-based sensors. While this technology shares some characteristics of traditional airborne lidar mapping, it also has significant differences that increase the understanding of the nearshore environment for improved marine resource mapping, benthic habitat mapping, shoreline delineation, nautical charting, and marine debris mapping.
Helping to Solve North America’s Most Challenging Coastal and Riverine Issues
The following five projects provide a sampling of the work NV5 Geospatial has participated in over the last 10 years:
- Hurricanes Michael, Florida and Florence, North Carolina. In the aftermath of hurricanes Michael and Florence in 2018, NV5 Geospatial was tasked by NOAA to conduct shoreline mapping (topobathy lidar, 4-band imagery, shoreline compilation) for nearly 5,121,000 acres, spanning the entire coast of North Carolina and the panhandle coast of Florida. Data from this effort is being used for updating the national shoreline, improving inundation models, and numerous coastal management applications.
- Okanagan Lakes, British Columbia. NV5 Geospatial collected topobathymetric lidar and four-band imagery data over a 573 square km area of the Okanagan Lakes in southeastern British Columbia. The data collected is being used to assess nearshore bathymetry to support community planning and policies for flood control.
- Elbow River, Alberta, Canada. NV5 Geospatial collected topographic lidar data over the Elbow and Bow Rivers located within the city of Calgary, Alberta. The area of interest included a 46-mile reach of the Bow River and a 15-mile reach of the Elbow River including its confluence with the Bow River. The City of Calgary will use the data for emergency management, flood mitigation engineering, and to support environmental rehabilitation projects.
- Florida Keys, Florida. NV5 Geospatial collected topobathymetric lidar data and 4-band (33 cm GSD) digital imagery over 1.36 million acres of the Florida Keys impacted by Hurricane Irma in September of 2017. The data were collected to support NOAA in mapping and updating the national shoreline.
- Platte River, Nebraska. NV5 Geospatial has been awarded two four-year high resolution lidar and orthoimagery (15 cm GSD) data collection contracts for repeated collections among seasons and years along a 100-mile reach of the Platte River in central Nebraska. The data will aid Headwaters and the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program in monitoring and understanding the impact of flow regimes on channel morphology and listed species habitat throughout this dynamic river system.
For more information, please contact us via https://www.nv5.com/geospatial/contact/.
About NV5 Geospatial
NV5 Geospatial is North America’s most comprehensive provider of geospatial services, providing end-to-end solutions and insights to organizations that need geospatial intelligence to mitigate risk, plan for growth, better manage resources and advance scientific understanding. We leverage the widest array of advanced remote sensing technologies, and apply today’s most sophisticated analytic AI frameworks, including proprietary deep learning, computer vision and predictive analytic models tailored to solve our clients’ needs. We put geospatial intelligence in the hands of our clients via our proprietary cloud-based software, empowering meaningful change across our client’s enterprise. For more information visit NV5 Geospatial, join us on LinkedIn or follow us on Twitter @nv5geospatial.
